E 

185. 93 
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3  273  23D 


THE 


TAXATION  OF  NEGROES 
IN  VIRGINIA 
T.R.  Snavel' 


I  '  I 


i 


LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
DAVIS 


Publications  of  the  University  of  Virginia 
Phelps-Stokes  Fellowship  Papers 


The  Taxation  of  Negroes  in  Virginia 


BY 


TIPTON  RAY  SNAVELY 


Publications  of  the  University  of  Virginia 
Phelps-Stokes  Fellowship  Papers 


The  Taxation  of  Negroes  in  Virginia 


BY 

TIPTON  RAY  SNAVELY, 

Phelps-Stokes  Fellow,  1915 -1917 


LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
DAVIS 


EDITORIAL  NOTE. 


The  Phelps- Stokes  Fellowship  for  the  study  of  the  Negro 
was  founded  at  the  University  of  Virginia  in  1912  through  a 
gift  from  the  trustees  of  the  Phelps- Stokes  Fund.  It  is  the 
duty  of  the  holder  of  the  Fellowship  to  stimulate  and  conduct 
investigation  and  to  encourage  and  guide  a  wider  general  inter 
est  among  students  concerning  the  character,  condition  and 
possibilities  of  the  Negroes  in  the  Southern  States. 

With  this  object  in  view  the  successive  incumbents  have  or 
ganized  classes  for  study  that  have  been  well  attended  and  dil 
igent.  Special  investigations  have  been  carried  on  by  each  Fel 
low;  related  topics  have  been  assigned  for  study  by  individuals 
and  groups,  and  the  results  presented  for  class  discussion;  and 
from  time  to  time  men  distinguished  as  thoughtful  students  of 
Negro  Life  have  been  invited  to  lecture  at  the  University. 


PREFACE. 


The  present  essay  is  the  result  of  my  investigations  while  I 
held  the  Phelps- Stokes  Fellowship  at  the  University  of  Virginia 
during  the  session  of  1915-16.  In  it  I  have  endeavored  to  por 
tray  the  attitude  of  Virginia  toward  the  negro  problem  as  it  is 
reflected  through  one  phase,  taxation,  of  the  state's  activities. 
As  a  first  consideration,  I  have  sought  a  strict  adherence  to 
facts,  and  it  has  been  my  purpose  in  every  instance  to  give  an 
unbiased  interpretation  of  the  data  presented.  So  far  as  I  am 
aware,  no  specialized  study  of  the  taxation  of  negroes  has  ever 
been  undertaken  for  any  state  or  city.  This  fact  alone  is  a  suf 
ficient  justification  for  the  appearance  of  the  present  essay. 

T.  R.  S. 

University  of  Virginia, 
November,  1916. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 
The  Capitation  Tax 9 

CHAPTER  II. 
The  Real  Estate  Tax 44 

CHAPTER  III. 
Personal  Property  and  Income  Taxes 80 

CHAPTER  IV. 
Conclusions    .  , 93 


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CHAPTER   1. 
THE:  CAPITATION  TAX. 

The  revenue  in  the  early  days  of  the  Virginia  colony  was 
small  and  arose  for  the  most  part  from  the  need  for  protection 
against  the  Indians.  The  poll-tax  dates  from  the  year  1623, 
when  a  special  tax  of  "10  pounds  of  tobacco"  was  levied  upon 
every  male  head  above  sixteen  years  of  age  to  meet  the  public 
debt  which  had  resulted  from  the  recent  Indian  massacre.1 
In  the  seventeenth  century  the  revenue  of  the  colony  was  de 
rived  principally  from  a  general  capitation  tax,  the  amount  be 
ing  fixed  to  meet  the  exigency  of  the  occasion.  Except  for  oc 
casional  intermittences  a  poll-tax  was  levied  to  the  end  of  the 
colonial  period. 

The  number  of  free  negroes  in  the  colony  during  the  seven 
teenth  century  and  until  the  latter  part  of  the  eighteenth  cen 
tury  was  very  small.2  There  are  many  evidences,  however,  which 


1  Henning's  Statutes,  Vol.  I,  1>28. 

3  For  the  free  negroes  in  Virginia  during  the  colonial  period  see 
Russell,  "The  Free  Negro  in  Virginia,  1619-1865,"  Johns  Hopkins 
Historical  Studies,  XXXI.  It  seems  impossible  to  obtain  an  abso 
lute  estimate  of  the  number  of  free  negroes  in  the  colony  prior  to 
the  year  1790,  when  the  first  Federal  decennial  census  was  made.  In 
1691  and  1723  the  legislature  passed  an  act  making  it  unlawful  for  ne 
groes  or  mulattoes  to  be  set  free  "upon  any  pretense  whatsoever, 
except  for  some  meritorious  services,  to  be  adjudged  and  allowed  by 
the  governor  and  council."  This  clause  was  reenacted  in  1748  and 
obtained  until  the  year  1782  when  a  law  was  passed  providing  for 
the  manumission  of  slaves.  See  Henning's  Statutes  at  Large,  Vol. 
Ill,  87;  Vol.  IV,  132;  Vol.  XI,  39. 

In  a  treatise,  "On  the  State  of  Slavery  in  Virginia,"  published  as 
an  appendix  to  the  1803  edition  of  Tucker's  Blackstone,  Vol.  I,  Part 
II,  Note  H,  66,  St.  George  Tucker  says:  "There  is  reason  to  be 
lieve  that  great  numbers  have  been  emancipated  since  the  passing 
of  this  act."  He  estimates  that  there  were  about  2,800  free  negroes 
and  mulattoes  in  Virginia  when  the  act  took  effect.  Allowing  for  a 
natural  increase  between  the  years  1691  and  1782,  Mr.  J.  H.  Russell 
estimates  that  the  number  of  free  negroes  in  the  former  year  was 
about  350. 


10'  PHELPS-STOKES   FELLOWSHIP   PAPERS 

attest  the  fact  that  those  who  were  free  were  included  in  the 
taxable  lists.  Thus  to  meet  an  appropriation  for  the  expenses 
of  an  Indian  campaign  the  general,  assembly  in  the  year  1629 
"concluded  that  there  should  be  five  pounds  of  tobacco  per  poll 
levied  throughout  the  colony"  on  "every  master  of  a  family  and 
every  free  man."  3  Again  an  act  was  passed  in  1642  to  the  ef 
fect,  "That  all  free  men  who  are  hired  servants  shall  pay  their 
own  tithes  and  duties  are  to  be  collected  per  poll  for  the  coun- 
trey  service."  4  The  poll-tax  was  abolished  and  a  personal  prop 
erty  tax  substituted  for  a  period  of  four  years  in  1649.5  The 
master  or  owner  paid  the  taxes  on  servants.6  Free  negro 
women  were  also  accounted  tithable  in  the  year  1668  when  it 
seems  that,  according  to  the  early  English  custom  of  exempting 
women  from  the  payment  of  capitation  taxes,  there  was  some 
question  as  to  whether  free  negro  women  should  not  likewise  be 
exempted.  The  general  assembly  declared  that,  "negro  women, 
though  permitted  to  enjoy  their  freedom  yet  ought  not  in  all  re 
spects  to  be  admitted  to  a  full  fruition  of  the  exemption  and  im 
punities  of  the  English,  and  are  still  liable  to  the  payment  of 
taxes."  7 

This  statute  was  reenacted  in  1705  and  only  white  women, 
and  children  under  sixteen  years  of  age,  were  exempted  from 
payment  of  the  capitation  tax.8  It  seems  that  in  certain  cases 
prior  to  1723  individuals  were  exempted  by  special  act.  Such 
acts  were  invalidated,  however,  in  this  year  when  all  free  ne 
groes,  mulattoes,  etc.,  were  "accounted  tithables;  any  law,  cus 
tom,  or  usage  to  the  contrary,  in  any  wise,  notwithstanding."  a 
As  the  need  for  revenue  in  the  colony  increased  during  the 


Henning's   Statutes,   Vol.    I,   143. 

Ibid.,  Vol.   I,  305. 

Ibid.,  Vol.   I,   241. 

Ibid.,  Vol.  I,  143. 

Ibid.,  Vol.  II,  267. 

Ibid.t  Vol.  Ill,  169. 

Henning,  Vol.  IV,  133.  It  may  be  noted  that  in  this  year  also 
free  negroes  were  disfranchised  in  toto,  "excepting  such  only  as 
the  county  courts,  for  charitable  reasons  appearing  to  them,  shall 
think  fit  to  excuse."  (Ibid.,  Vol.  IV,  133;  Vol.  VI,  40  and  41.) 


THD    TAXATION    OF    NEGROES    IN    VIRGINIA  11 

eighteenth  century  a  land  tax  was  resorted  to  from  time  to  time 
in  addition  to  capitations.  In  1769  the  poll-tax  which  had  been 
imposed  on  free  negro  women  was  abolished.  The  repeal  of 
the  act  was  based  on  two  claims :  ( 1 )  That  it  had  been  found 
"very  burthensome,"  and  (2)  that  it  was  "derogatory  of  the 
rights  of  free-born  subjects."  It  provided  that  all  "free  negro, 
mulatto,  and  Indian  women,  and  all  slaves,  shall  be  and  are 
hereby  exempted  from  being  listed  as  tithables,  and  from  the 
payment  of  any  public,  county,  or  parish  levies."  10  * 

The  provisions  which  after  1691  had  forbidden  manumission 
except  by  special  act  were  repealed  in  1782;  and  with  the  aboli 
tion  of  the  restrictions  on  liberating  slaves,  steps  were  taken  at 
the  same  time  to  enforce  the  collection  of  delinquent  taxes.11 
The  language  of  this  act  implies  that  there  was  some  difficulty 
in  collecting  taxes  from  male  free  negroes.  It  provided :  "That 
in  case  any  slave  so  liberated  shall  neglect  in  any  year  to  pay  all 
taxes  and  levies  imposed  or  to  be  imposed  by  law,  the  court  of 
the  county  shall  order  the  sheriff  to  hire  out  him  or  her  for  so 
long  a  time  ds  will  raise  the  said  taxes  and  levies;  provided 
sufficient  stress  cannot  be  made  upon  his  or  her  estate."  12  The 
number  of  free  negroes  increased  at  a  considerable  rate  during 
the  eight  years  between  1782  and  1790,  when,  according  to  the 
report  of  the  Federal  census  for  Virginia,  there  were  12,866 
free  negroes  in  the  state.  In  the  meanwhile,  however,  capita 
tion  taxes  were  abolished  in  the  year  1787,  the  legislature  de 
claring  that  "whereas  the  tax  on  young  slaves  and  the  tax  on 
free  males  above  the  age  of  twenty-one  years,  have  been  found 
very  burdensome,  and  the  situation  of  the  public  revenues  will 
justify  a  revision  of  the  said  taxes;  Be  it  therefore  enacted, 
That  so  much  of  the  laws  of  revenue  as  impose  a  tax  of  ten 
shillings  to  be  paid  by  each  free  male  above  the  age  of  twenty- 
one  years,  shall  be  and  the  same  is  hereby  repealed,  etc."  13 

All  male  persons  above  sixteen  years  of  age  (except  those  ex- 


10  Ibid.,  Vol.  VIII,  393. 

11  Ibid.,  Vol.  XI,  39. 
13  Ibid.,  Vol.  XI,  40. 

13  Ibid.,  Vol.   XII,  431. 


12  PHEXPS-STOKES   FELLOWSHIP   PAPERS 

empted  by  special  act)  were  again  liable  to  the  payment  of  a 
capitation  tax  in  1792.14  Upon  the  declaration  of  war  in  1812 
the  need  for  increased  revenue  in  the  commonwealth  arose  sud 
denly  and  the  legislature  in  1813  passed  a  discriminatory  law  as 
follows :  "All  free  negroes  and  mulattoes  above  the  age  of  six 
teen  years  shall  be  subject  to  a  poll-tax  of  one  dollar  and  fifty 
cents,  to  be  collected  in  such  manner  as  shall  be  provided  by 
law;  provided  that  such  free  negroes  and  mulattoes  as  are 
bound  out  ^s  apprentices,  shall  be,  and  are  hereby  exempted 
from  the  tax  hereby  imposed."  15  This  unprecedented  change 
of  policy  in  imposing  a  capitation  tax  only  upon  negroes  was 
due  in  part  perhaps  to  other  causes  than  the  sudden  need  for 
greater  revenue.  The  number  of  free  negroes  had  increased 
constantly  since  1782,16  and  the  problem  had  assumed  such  pro 
portions  by  1800  that  a  movement  for  colonization  was  started 
and  "new  and  unusually  stringent  measures  for  keeping  watch 
over  and  controlling  the  actions  of  free  negroes  were  enacted."  17 
The  free  negro  had  become  such  a  menace  that  restrictions  upon 
emancipation  were  not  sufficient  to  remove  the  grave  aspects 
which  had  already  developed.  By  a  discriminatory  tax,  there 
fore,  it  was  possibly  hoped  that  pressure  would  be  brought  for 
removing  free  negroes  from  the  state  or  for  forcing  them  to  be 
come  apprentices  in  default  of  paying  the  tax. 

For  collecting  the  taxes  it  was  provided  that:  "The  poll-tax 
imposed  on  free  negroes  and  mulattoes  shall  be  collected  by  the 
sheriffs  in  the  same  manner  and  at  the  same  time  that  they  col 
lect  taxes  on  the  taxable  property  of  the  commonwealth,  and 
they  shall  account  for  and  pay  the  same  into  the  public  treasury 
at  the  same  time  and  in  the  same  manner,  and  under  the  same 
penalties,  that  they  account  for  and  pay  the  taxes  on  the  several 
articles  of  taxable  property  herein  before  mentioned."  18 

14  Shepherd's  Virginia  Statutes  at  Large,   I,  184. 

15  Acts  of  Assembly  1812-1813,   Part  II,  6. 

16  According   to    the    Federal    census    enumeration    the    number   in 
1820  was  36,875. 

1T  Russell,  "The  Free  Negro  in  Virginia,  1619-1865,"  66. 
18  Acts   1812-1813,   8.     The   mode   of   procedure   for    the    collection 
of  delinquent  poll-taxes  consisted  in  an  order  from  the  court  of  the 


THE;  TAXATION  OF  NEGROES  IN  VIRGINIA  13 

The  rate  of  $1.50  per  poll  was  raised  in  1815  to  $2.50  but  ap 
plied  only  to  male  free  negroes  "above  the  age  of  sixteen  years 
and  under  the  age  of  forty-five."  19  Some  free  negroes  permitted 
unpaid  assessments  to  reduce  them  to  temporary  servitude,  but, 
as  Mr.  J.  H.  Russell  points  out,  "these  capitation  taxes  were 
collected  with  remarkable  success.  In  1814,  $8,322  was  paid  in 
to  the  treasury  by  5,547  free  negroes,  or  about  ninety  per  cent 
of  the  male  free  negroes  within  the  taxable  age.  In  1815,  when 
the  rate  was  $2.50  instead  of  $1.50,  as  in  the  two  preceding 
years,  and  only  such  as  were  between  the  ages  of  sixteen  and 
forty-five  were  taxable,  4,023  free  negroes  paid  their  assess 
ments,  which  amounted  to  $10,057.50 — or  a  sum  which  was 
equal  to  the  amount  received  into  the  treasury  from  lawyers'  li 
censes  or  from  the  tax  on  carriages,  and  was  one  and  one-half 
per  cent  of  the  total  revenue  of  the  state.20  During  the  three 
years  when  free  negroes  were  paying  a  high  poll-tax  the  white 
inhabitants  were  paying  none."  21 

The  capitation  tax  was  abolished  in  1816  and  the  Acts  of  As 
sembly  contain  no  record  of  a  subsequent  reenactment  of  the 
law  until  1850.  In  this  year  free  negroes  above  twenty-one  and 
under  fifty-five  years  of  age  were  again  assessed  with  a  discrim 
inatory  tax  of  $1.00  per  capita.  The  amount  derived  from  this 
source  was  to  be  used  exclusively  for  the  colonization  of  free 
negroes  in  Liberia,  and  was  to  supplement  an  annual  appropria 
tion  of  $30,000  for  this  purpose.22  The  act  contained  a  provi 
sion  making  it  obligatory  for  free  negroes  to  report  themselves 
to  the  commissioners  of  revenue  for  assessment,  and  the  fund 
was  to  be  carefully  set  apart  by  the  auditor  and  treasurer  in 


county  or  corporation  authorizing  the  sheriff  or  sergeant  to  hire  out 
the  delinquent  for  a  sufficient  time  necessary  to  raise  the  taxes — dis 
tress  always  being  made  on  any  existing  property  first.  (Acts  1815- 
1816,  61.)  In  1820  the  minimum  rate  at  which  free  negroes  and  mu- 
lattoes  could  be  hired  out  was  eight  cents  a  day.  (Acts  of  Assembly, 
1820,  26.) 

19  Acts   1814-1815,   8. 

20  Auditor's    Report   for   1815-1816;    Acts    1815-1816,    88. 

*  Russell,   "The   Free  Negro  in  Virginia,   1619-1865,"   115. 
22  Acts  1849-1850;  7-8. 


14  PHEXPS-STOKES   FELLOWSHIP   PAPERS 

their  reports.  For  the  subsequent  ten  years  the  levy  of  one  dol 
lar  was  unchanged.23  A  capitation  tax  of  eighty  cents  was  lev 
ied  in  1860  upon  all  male  free  negroes  and  all  white  males  who 
had  attained  the  age  of  twenty-one  years.24  The  tax  of  $1.00  on 
male  free  negroes  which  had  been  continued  since  1850  had  not 
been  repealed  and  it  devolved  upon  the  auditor  of  public  ac 
counts  to  make  a  decision  as  to  which  of  the  taxes  should  oper 
ate.  He  decided  to  collect  both  assessments.25  The  collection 
for  1860  when  both  capitation  taxes  were  imposed  was 
$13,065.22.26  In  1861  the  act  of  1853  levying  a  poll-tax  and  es 
tablishing  a  colonization  board  was  abolished  and  the  levy  of 
1860  remained  in  force.27  With  the  adoption  of  this  act  dis 
crimination  in  levying  poll-taxes  ceased;  after  1860  the  taxes 
were  uniform  for  whites  and  negroes. 

23  White  males  were  required  to  pay  a  poll-tax  in  18521,  as  follows: 
"A  capitation  tax,  equal  to  the   tax  assessed  on   land  of  the  value 
of  two  hundred  dollars,   shall  be  levied   on   every  white  male  who 
has  attained  the  age  of  twenty-one  years;  and  one  equal  moiety  of 
the  capitation  tax  upon  white  persons  shall  be  applied  to  the  pur 
poses  of  education  in  primary  and  free  schools."     This  tax  for  white 
males  in  18521  amounted  to  thirty-six  cents  per  capita.     (Acts  1852, 
14  and  331.)      It  was  raised  to  forty  cents  in   1853    (Acts   1852-1853, 
20),  and  to  eighty  cents  in  1856.     (Acts  1856,  11.) 

24  Acts  1859-1860,  59. 

26  Code  1860,  242  and  243  note.    The  auditor  gave  the  following  in 
structions  to  the  commissioners:  "Section  4  of  chapter  3,  Acts  1859- 
1860,  imposing  taxes  for  the  support  of  government,  levies  a  tax  of 
eighty  cents  on  every  free  negro  over  the  age  of  twenty-one  years. 
This  section  imposes  a  tax  of  one  dollar  on  every  male  free  negro 
between  twenty-one  and  twenty-five  years  of  age,  to  be  applied  to 
the  removal  of  free  negroes  from  the  commonwealth.     The  enquiry 
is  naturally  suggested,  whether  both   taxes  are  to  be  assessed  and 
collected  for  their    specific  purposes.     Both    acts    may    consistently 
stand  together;  and  while  it  is  not  believed  the  General  Assembly  did 
intend  to  impose  both  taxes,  yet  such  seems  to  be  the  only  interpre 
tation  that  can  be  sustained." 

28  Auditor's  Report  for  1861;  Code  1860,  243.  In  1861  representa 
tives  from  a  portion  of  the  western  counties  of  Virginia  assembled  in 
convention  at  Wheeling  and  effected  a  division  of  the  state.  The 
statistics  quoted  above  prior  to  this  year  include  West  Virginia  be 
fore  the  separation. 

27  Acts  1861,  4. 


THE;  TAXATION  OF  NEGROES  IN  VIRGINIA  15 

The  demand  for  greater  revenue  during  the  Civil  War  be 
came  more  and  more  urgent,  with  a  consequent  increase  in  the 
capitation  tax  levy.  The  rate  which  in  1862  had  been  raised  to 
$1.20  was  increased  to  $2.00  in  1863.28  The  assessment  on  free 
negroes  in  1863  was  $11,554.29  During  the  decade  from  1850 
to  1860  the  taxes  levied  on  free  negroes  appear  to  have  been 
collected  with  fair  success.  Owing  to  the  financial  hardships  of 
the  state  during  the  years  immediately  subsequent  to  the  war, 
the  rates  levied  were  small  and  taxes  were  necessarily  difficult 
of  collection  from  the  mass  of  newly  emancipated  negroes.  The 
legislature  which  assembled  in  1866  imposed  a  small  tax  of 
twenty-eight  cents  per  capita  "upon  every  male  person,  over  the 
age  of  twenty-one  years,  not  exempted  from  taxation  for  bodily 
infirmity."  30  The  rate  was  increased  to  sixty  cents  in  1867.31 

The  so-called  Underwood  Constitution  as  adopted  in  conven 
tion  in  1867-1868  and  ratified  by  the  people  in  1869  provided  for 
equal  and  uniform  taxes,  "whether  imposed  by  the  state,  county, 
or  corporate  bodies."  It  contained  the  following  clause  for  a 
capitation  tax:  "The  General  Assembly  may  levy  a  tax,  not 
exceeding  one  dollar  per  annum,  on  every  male  citizen  who  has 
attained  the  age  of  twenty-one  years,  which  shall  be  applied  ex 
clusively  in  aid  of  public  free  schools ;  and  counties  and  corpo 
rations  shall  have  power  to  impose  a  capitation  tax,  not  exceed 
ing  fifty  cents  per  annum,  for  all  purposes."  32 

The  maximum  levy  granted  for  school  purposes  in  the  consti 
tution  was  imposed  by  statute  in  1870;  the  amount  assessed  in 
this  year  at  $1.00  per  capita  being  $146,883  for  white  males  and 
$90,183  for  negroes.  The  total  delinquency  was  36.25  per  cent.33 
As  a  large  proportion  of  the  negro  population  possessed  com 
paratively  little  wealth  and  received  a  scant  income  the  percen 
tage  of  unpaid  capitations  was  much  larger  for  negroes  than 


*  Acts   1861-1862,   4;    1863,  4. 

*  Auditor's   Report,   1863. 
30  Acts   1865-1866,  61. 

*  Ibid.,  1866-1867,  861. 

32  Constitution  of  1867-1868,  Art.  X,  Sections  I  and  5. 
38  Auditor's  Report,  1871;  Acts  1870,  335. 


16  PHE&PS-STOKES   FELLOWSHIP   PAPERS 

for  whites.  For  the  years  1874  and  1875  the  relative  assessments 
and  delinquencies  for  white  and  negro  males  are  shown  by  the 
following  table : 

TABLE    I:    AMOUNT    ASSESSED,    AMOUNT    DELINQUENT, 

AND   PER   CENT   DELINQUENT  FOR  WHITES  AND 

NEGROES  IN  1874  AND  1875.34 

Assessment  Delinquent  %  Delinquent 

Whites     Negroes    \Yhites    Negroes    Whites    Negroes 

1874    $152,392     $  98,071     $21,237       $40,287          14.0         41.0 

1875     163,020       101,186       24,237         37,751         14.8         37.3 


Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  for  the  above  years  the  percentage 
of  delinquency  for  negroes  was  approximately  three  times  that 
of  white  males.35 

In  1875  the  white  capitation  tax  assessments  amounted  to 
$163,020  and  the  assessments  on  colored  males  had  increased  to 
$101,186.  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  of  the  number  of  white 
males  assessed  there  were  20,215  living  in  cities  for  whom  the 
percentage  of  delinquency  was  39.7,  while  the  total  per  cent  for 
the  state  was  only  14.8.  Of  the  negro  males  assessed  13,742 
were  in  cities,  while  the  per  cent  of  delinquency  in  cities  was 
72.7  as  against  37.3  for  the  entire  state.36  Sentiment  for  en 
forcing  payment  of  the  assessments  by  making  it  a  condition 
for  voting  was  growing  in  popular  favor.  One  explanation  for 


84  Auditor's    Report,    1874   and    1875. 

18  The  annual  report  of  the  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction 
for  1873  contained  the  following  statement:  "At  present  one  man 
in  every  three  assessed  fails  to  pay  his  capitation  tax,  and  there  are 
probably  near  60,000  men  not  assessed  every  year.  Assessors  fail  to 
make  complete  lists,  owing  no  doubt  to  the  small  amount  of  the  tax, 
and  the  difficulty  of  collecting  it  in  many  cases.  The  result,  as  the 
matter  now  stands,  is  humiliating.  About  82,000  of  those  assessed 
fail  to  pay,  and  56,000'  are  not  assessed,  so  that  138,000  out  of  300,000 
pay  nothing.  In  other  words  the  state  gets  $162,000  where  she  ought 
to  get  $300',000."  (Annual  Reports,  1873.) 

88  Auditor's  Report,  1875;  statistics  are  compiled  for  counties  and 
cities  from  "Rough  Settlements"  in  the  State  Auditor's  Office. 


THE    TAXATION    OF    NEGROES    IN    VIRGINIA  17 

this  sentiment  was  the  need  for  more  revenue;  another  was  the 
desire  to  wrest  the  control  of  the  ballot,  especially  in  the  black 
sections  of  the  state,  from  the  hands  of  the  negro. 

An  important  source  of  public  school  revenue  was  the  capita 
tion  tax  levy  of  fifty  cents  which  was  optional  on  the  part  of 
counties  and  cities  to  impose — popular  vote  in  all  cases  being 
the  deciding  factor.  That  the  annual  fluctuations  and  unpaid 
assessments  rendered  local  school  funds  necessarily  unstable 
and  precarious  is  not  surprising.37  The  State  Superintendent 
of  Public  Instruction  and  virtually  all  of  the  division  superin 
tendents  advised  in  1871  that  "local  voting  for  school  expenses 
be  abolished,  except  for  extraordinary  expenditures."  About 
four-fifths  of  the  counties  in  this  year  were  imposing  the  local 
capitation  tax  levy.38 

Because  of  the  pressing  need  of  revenue  for  school  purposes 
the  State  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction  in  1873  recom 
mended  to  the  legislature  that  the  poll-tax  rate  be  doubled  and 
the  payment  of  the  tax  be  made  a  requirement  for  voting.  He 
believed  that  an  anticipated  objection  to  the  measure,  "that  candi 
dates  for  office  might  buy  votes  by  paying  the  voter's  tax,"  was 


"  The  following  regulation  intended  to  enforce  payment  of  the 
local  capitation  tax  assessments  in  school  districts  was  passed  by 
the  State  Board  of  Education  in  1871:  "Be  it  ordered,  That  the  at 
tention  of  school  trustees  be  directed  to  the  last  clause  of  the  46th 
section  of  the  school  law  which  provided  that  'no  person  shall  be 
allowed  to  attend  any  public  school  whose  father,  if  he  be  alive  and 
resident  within  the  school  district  and  not  a  pauper,  shall  not  have 
paid  the  capitation  tax  in  aid  of  public  free  schools  last  assessed  on 
him;'  but  the  actual  enforcement  of  this  clause  shall  not  begin  until 
the  first  of  December  each  year,  or  until  such  other  date  as  may  be 
fixed  by  law  for  tax  collectors  to  complete  their  work  and  to  return 
their  delinquent  lists." 

88  "Of  course  by  a  certain  mode  of  electioneering,"  said  a  county 
superintendent,  "we  can  secure  any  tax,  as  the  colored  people  have 
a  large  majority  in  our  county.  If,  however,  the  colored  people  all 
vote  one  way  and  that  in  favor  of  any  tax  proposed,  this  very  thing 
will  drive  away  the  whites  from  the  support  of  the  schools.  Hence, 
for  the  present,  it  seems  best  for  the  tax  necessary  to  be  imposed 
by  the  legislature."  (Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction  for  1871, 
Supplement  to  Annual  Report.) 

—2 


18  PHEXPS-STOKES   FELLOWSHIP   PAPERS 

really  an  argument  in  its  favor  since  a  "vote-buying  candidate 
would  take  other  and  worse  means  for  securing  votes  if  he  did 
not  do  this."  In  his  annual  report  on  the  condition  of  school 
revenue  in  1875,  he  again  stated  to  the  legislature  that,  "could 
the  prepayment  of  the  capitation  tax  be  made  a  condition  of 
voting,  our  school  revenues  would  be  materially  increased."  39 
In  January,  1876,  an  anomaly  in  the  application  of  public 
school  funds  was  discovered,  the  result  of  which  had  an  imme 
diate  effect  in  the  enactment  of  a  measure  applying  particularly 
to  the  capitation  tax.  The  Supreme  Court  in  1872  sustained  the 
validity  of  an  act  passed  in  1871  known  as  the  Funding  Bill. 
This  bill  provided  that  the  coupons  of  state  bonds  should  be 
"receivable  for  all  taxes,  dues,  debts  and  demands  due  the 
state." 40  Although  a  subsequent  act  in  1872  repealed  this 
provision  the  Court  upheld  the  original  law  and  suggested  an 
increase  in  the  rates  of  taxation.  It  declared  the  obligation  to 
provide  for  the  interest  due  on  the  state  bonds  to  be  "as  high 
as  the  duty  applying  the  capitation  tax  and  other  funds  to  the 
schools."  41  Thus  in  1876  it  was  found  that  the  auditor  had 
reported  only  so  much  of  the  school  funds  as  had  actually  been 
paid  in  cash — the  amount  paid  in  coupons  having  been  diverted 
for  payment  of  the  state  debt.  The  need  for  school  funds  had 
become  so  imperative  that  a  constitutional  amendment  impos 
ing  a  capitation  tax  as  a  requirement  for  voting  was  submitted 
to  the  people  at  the  regular  November  election  in  1876.  A  few 
days  prior  to  the  election  the  Richmond  Whig,  referring  to 
this  amendment  in  an  editorial,  said,  "Another,  and  perhaps  the 
most  important  of  all  the  amendments  is  the  one  denying  the 
ballot  to  those  who  refuse  to  pay  their  capitation  tax.  This 
again  will  insure  to  the  treasury  some  $50,000  annually  that  is 
now  withheld."42  It  was  adopted  by  a  vote  of  129,373  to 
98,359.43 


39  Annual  Report  of  the  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction  for 
1875,  124. 

40  Acts   1870-1,   379. 

41  Antoni   v.    Wright,   22    Gratton's    Reports,   833. 

42  Richmond  Whig,  Nov.  2,   1876. 

tt  Brenaman,  J.   N.,  "History  of  Virginia   Conventions,"   122. 


THE    TAXATION    OF    NEGROES    IN    VIRGINIA  19 

It  was  soon  found  that  the  amendment  did  not  prove  to  be 
a  panacea  for  those  localities  in  which  the  negro  vote  had  be 
come  most  destructive  and  in  which  political  corruption  was 
most  prevalent,  nor  did  it  materially  increase  the  amount  of 
school  revenue.  "For  the  six  years  from  1879  until  1885  the 
negro  vote  of  the  state  was  a  powerful  factor  in  its  control."  44 
State  and  federal  offices  were  in  the  hands  of  unscrupulous 
men  who  held  them  mainly  by  amassing  negro  votes.  Here 
the  capitation  tax  proved  no  barrier  since  political  agents  took 
care  that  the  tax  was  paid  in  due  time,  or,  if  the  day  of  election 
arrived  without  the  assessments  having  been  paid,  worse  meth 
ods  were  resorted  to,  and  by  means  of  a  mere  technicality  the 
negro  vote  was  registered  anyway.  On  the  other  hand,  many 
honest  white  voters  procrastinated  in  the  payment  of  their  cap 
itation  taxes  until  too  late  and  consequently  lost  their  votes. 

So  obvious  were  the  abuses  that  the  legislature  submitted  to 
the  people  the  question  of  deciding  at  the  November  election  in 
1882  whether  prepayment  of  the  capitation  tax  as  a  require 
ment  for  voting  should  be  continued  or  repealed.  Apropos  of 
repealing  the  amendment  the  Richmond  State  said :  "This  we 
sincerely  hope  will  be  the  last  election  in  Virginia  in  which  the 
use  of  money  will  be  an  absolute  necessity,  made  so  by  the 
constitution,  for  any  purpose.  The  requirement  of  the  capi 
tation  tax  as  a  prerequisite  for  voting  has  been  the  source  of 
all  our  ills,  and  yet  when  it  was  adopted  we  were  assured  by 
the  very  wise  men  who  were  the  fathers  of  the  movement  that 
it  was  the  only  thing  needed  to  make  our  elections  pure  and 
keep  the  government  of  the  state  in  the  control  of  our  best 
people.  We  doubted  this  at  the  time  and  foresaw  the  use  that 
would  be  made  of  it  by  bad,  ambitious  men.  We  knew  that  the 
white  people  would  neglect  or  grow  careless  of  their  duty  in 
this  respect,  and  that  they  would  also  reject  with  scorn  any 
proposition  from  others  to  pay  this  tax  for  them,  while  those 
interested  in  voting  them  would  in  some  way  see  that  the  taxes 
of  the  negroes  were  paid,  or  that  some  sort  of  fraud  would  be 
resorted  to  in  order  to  qualify  them  to  vote,  and  such  has  been 

44  Ibid.,  80. 


20  PHEXPS-STOKDS   FHUvOWSHIP   PAPERS 

the  actual  fact.  The  party  in  power  not  only  to-day  but  on 
former  occasions,  had  tax  receipts  ready  made  out  in  blank  and 
signed  by  the  collectors  to  be  filled  up  by  the  name  of  anyone 
offering  as  a  substitute  or  an  original  voter  to  cast  his  vote  in 
the  interest  of  the  Boss  while  thousands  of  our  own  people 
throughout  the  state  had  failed  to  pay  the  capitation  tax  or  to 
allow  anyone  to  pay  it  for  them,  and  so  lost  their  votes. 

"With  the  repeal  of  this  constitutional  provision  every  voter 
in  the  state  is  set  free,  and  with  a  free  ballot  and  a  white  pre 
ponderance  of  one-third  over  the  black  in  the  state  we  ought 
to  be  able  to  carry  with  ease  all  future  elections.  The  registra 
tion  will  be  the  only  test  then,  and  under  the  circumstances  by 
which  we  are  surrounded  is  an  absolute  necessity,  though  it 
needs  some  amendment  to  meet  the  unforeseen  emergencies 
and  to  prevent  either  false  registration  or  fraudulent  vot 
ing."  45 

It  was  abolished  by  a  vote  of  107,303  to  66,131.  Many  of 
the  leading  newspapers  fought  hard  to  have  the  amendment 
repealed.  The  Richmond  State  again  urged  that,  "The  free 
ballot,  made  entirely  free  by  the  repeal  of  the  poll-tax,  will  add 
at  least  forty  thousand  to  our  white  voting  strength,  and  with 
this  reenforcement  we  have  no  apprehensions  for  the  future. 

.  .  .  We  suppose  no  one  questions  the  fact  that  the  poll- 
tax  requirement  kept  at  least  one-fourth  of  our  white  voters 
from  the  polls,  simply  because  of  their  neglect  to  pay  the  tax 
or  their  refusal  to  allow  anyone  to  pay  it  for  them;  while  on 
the  other  hand,  the  colored  voter  had  somebody  to  attend  to 
this  small  matter  for  him,  and  was  not  at  all  sensitive  about 
it."  46 

White  capitation  tax  assessments  increased  from  $163,020 
in  1875  to  $191,226  in  1881,  or  about  17.3  per  cent.  The 
phenomenal  increase  may  be  explained  by  the  fact  that  fewer 
exemptions  were  made  because  of  bodily  infirmity.  By  an  act 
approved  April  21,  1882,  the  commissioners  were  directed  to 
"ascertain  and  assess  for  taxation  all  male  persons  of  full  age 


45  Richmond  State,    Nov.    5,    1882. 

46  Ibid.,   Nov.    18,    1882. 


THE)    TAXATION    OP    NEGROES    IN    VIRGINIA  21 

and  sound  mind  residing  in  his  district,  city,  or  town,  on  the 
first  day  of  February  of  each  year,  unless  otherwise  directed 
by  the  auditor,"  etc.47  Negro  assessments  increased  from 
$101,186  in  the  former  year  to  $116,004  in  the  latter,  repre 
senting  a  gain  of  14.6  per  cent.  For  the  years  1881  to  1883  in 
clusive  a  comparison  of  assessments  and  percentages  of  de 
linquency  for  whites  and  negroes  may  be  made  from  Table  II. 

TABLE  II:  CAPITATION  TAXES  ASSESSED  AND  RETURNED 
DELINQUENT  FROM  1881-1883.48 


Assessment 

Delinquent 

%  Delinquent 

Year 

Whites 

Negroes 

Whites 

Negroes 

Whites 

Negroes 

1881 

.    191  226 

116  004 

32  805 

49  672 

17  2 

42  8 

1882    .    . 

..      190582 

114  064 

35  988 

52  947 

18  9 

46  4 

1883 

193  118 

115,742 

35,647 

49,373 

18.5 

42.7 

Comparing  the  percentage  of  delinquency  in  1875,  or  the  year 
before  prepayment  of  the  capitation  tax  was  made  a  require 
ment  for  the  franchise,  with  that  of  1881,  or  the  year  in  which 
the  amendment  of  187'6  was  repealed,  there  is  a  ratio  of  14.8 
to  17.2  for  whites,  and  37.3  to  42.8  for  negroes.  Both  for 
white  and  negro  assessments,  therefore,  there  was  an  increase 
in  the  percentage  of  delinquency.  As  was  stated  above,  this 
fact  may  be  explained  from  the  unusual  increase  in  assess 
ments — this  increase  representing  in  part  those  who  had  pre 
viously  escaped  for  various  reasons.  The  maximum  delin 
quency  for  the  three  years,  1881  to  1883,  occurred  in  1882,  al 
though  the  election  in  the  latter  year  was  an  extremely  im 
portant  one.  It  might  have  been  expected  that  there  would  be 
a  decrease  in  the  payment  of  poll-taxes  in  1883 ;  there  was,  how 
ever,  no  perceptible  deviation  from  the  average  either  for 
whites  or  negroes. 

During  the  seven  years  from  1883  to  1889  inclusive  the  aver 
age  poll  assessments  amounted  to  202,614  for  whites  and 


41  Acts  of  Assembly,  1882,  384. 

48  Assessments    taken    from    Auditor's    Reports;    delinquent    taxes 
compiled  from  "Rough   Settlements"  in  Auditor's   office,   Richmond. 


22  P  HELPS-STOKES   FELLOWSHIP   PAPERS 

115,742  for  negroes,  while  the  total  increase  for  white  assess 
ments  was  18,751  or  about  ten  per  cent.  The  average  assess 
ment  for  negroes  during  the  same  period  was  115,742,  and 
although  the  number  listed  by  the  commissioners  of  revenue 
fluctuated,  there  was  practically  no  increase.  The  average 
number  reported  for  capitation  taxes  during  this  period  was 
identical  with  that  of  1883  and  the  assessments  for  1890  were 
even  somewhat  lower.49  The  virtually  stationary  character  of 
negro  assessments  for  so  many  years  resulted  in  part  from  an 
increasing  negro  population  of  a  migratory  character,  due  to  a 
large  influx  of  population  in  cities,  to  frequent  moving  from 
county  to  county,  and  to  the  employment  of  large  forces  in 
the  construction  of  railways,  mining  operations,  etc.  Accord 
ing  to  the  Federal  Census  Report  for  1890  there  were  130,747 
negro  males  of  taxable  age,  or  12.1  per  cent  in  excess  of  the 
number  assessed.  This  number,  if  slightly  diminished  by  crim 
inals  and  inmates  of  charitable  institutions,  still  denotes  a  large 
surplus  unassessed.  An  even  greater  discrepancy  occurs,  how 
ever,  for  this  year  in  the  case  of  white  males,  the  census  report 
being  14.6  per  cent  more  than  the  number  enumerated  by  the 
state  for  capitation  taxes.  It  is  a  significant  fact  also  that  the 
percentage  of  delinquency  for  whites  increased  from  18.5  in  1883 
to  24.5  in  1890,  representing  a  rise  of  six  per  cent  as  compared 
with  four  and  one-half  per  cent  for  negroes.  For  this  period  the 
percentage  of  delinquent  negroes  increased  from  42.7  to  47.2 
.  There  was  a  steady  and  rapid  growth  in  white  assessments 
throughout  the  decade  from  1890  to  1900.  Similarly  there  was 
a  constant  increase  for  negroes  though  the  growth  was  not  so 
marked  as  for  whites.  The  proclivity  in  both  races  for  ignor 
ing  capitation  tax  assessments  was  considered  by  the  legisla 
ture  in  1896,  and  inasmuch  as  the  tendency  was  becoming  ag 
gravated  each  year  an  act  was  passed  making  the  tax  a  lien  on 
real  estate.50  The  effectiveness  of  this  act,  as  illustrated  by 
Table  III,  was  negligible,  and  it  does  not  appear  to  have  been 


49  Ibid.,   1883-1890. 

"Be  it  enacted  by  the  General  Assembly  of  Virginia,  That  every 
capitation   tax  for  state,  county  and  corporation  purposes  shall   be 


THE    TAXATION    OF    NEGROES    IN    VIRGINIA  23 

TABLE    III:    ASSESSMENTS    AND    DELINQUENCY    FOR 

WHITES  AND  NEGROES  FOR  THE  YEARS 

1890,  1895,  AND  1900. 


No.  Assessed 

No.  Delinquent 

%  Delinquent 

Year 

Whites 

Negroes 

Whites 

Negroes 

Whites 

Negroes 

1890     .  .  . 

211  869 

1141947 

51  823 

54  202 

24  6 

47  2 

1895     ... 

234  268 

120  152 

59  124 

57  427 

25  2 

47  8 

1900 

257  123 

125,033 

67,954 

59,612 

26.4 

47.7 

attended  by  any  results  in  the  case  of  either  white  or  negro  de 
linquencies. 

Before  proceeding  further  with  the  discussion  of  this  chap 
ter,  it  will  not  be  irrelevant  to  notice  more  particularly  the 
policy  of  the  state  prior  to  the  year  1900  in  imposing  a  capi 
tation  tax.  Attention  has  been  called  to  the  fact  that  the  im 
position  of  a  poll-tax  on  free  negroes  before  the  Civil  War 
was  primarily  for  the  purpose  of  raising  revenue,  but  it  also 
served  to  minimize  the  number  who  might  be  given  freedom 
and  to  control  those  who  were  freed.  At  the  termination  of 
the  Civil  War  there  was  an  imperative  need  for  revenue.  What 
with  the  chaotic  condition  of  the  state  treasury,  an  overwhelm 
ing  state  debt,  and  the  establishment  in  1870  of  public  free 
schools,  it  was  necessary  to  provide  a  system  of  taxation  which 
should  become  practical  and  certain  in  its  operation.  Hence 
the  retention  of  the  capitation  tax.  Only  temporarily  from 
1876  to  1882  was  an  attempt  made  to  use  the  tax  as  a  means 
for  controlling  the  ballot. 

A  tendency  which  in  the  administration  of  the  tax  became 
accentuated  throughout  the  period  from  1866  to  1900,  was  a 
steady  growth  in  the  percentages  of  delinquency.  Except  for 
unimportant  variations  this  holds  true  both  for  white  and  negro 


a  lien  upon  the  real  estate  owned  by  the  person  against  whom  such 
tax  is  assessed,  from  the  time  of  such  assessment;  and  if  such  tax 
be  not  paid,  such  real  estate  may  be  subjected  to  sale  for  the  pay 
ment  thereof  and  all  costs  and  expenses,  at  the  same  time  and  in 
the  same  manner  that  such  real  estate  would  be  subjected  to  sale  for 
the  payment  of  taxes  assessed  thereon."  Acts  1895-1806,  402. 


24  PHEXPS-STOKES    FELLOWSHIP    PAPERS 

assessments.  The  law-making  body  endeavored  to  counter 
act  such  an  objectionable  tendency  of  the  tax  by  making  poll 
assessments  a  lien  upon  real  estate,  but  the  purpose  of  this  law 
was  never  realized,  owing  to  the  enactment  of  a  law  in  1900 
providing  for  a  constitutional  convention.  Indeed,  it  must 
have  failed  of  its  purpose  since  a  large  majority  of  delinquents 
assessed  were  not  owners  of  real  estate.  Before  taking  up  the 
change  of  policy  arising  from  the  adoption  of  the  present  con 
stitution,  it  will  be  well  to  note  more  fully  the  actual  working 
of  the  poll-tax  in  1900  as  it  affected  negroes  in  the  various 
portions  of  the  state. 

Of  a  total  population  which  amounted  to  1,854,184  at  the 
beginning  of  the  new  century,  660,722,  or  35.6  per  cent,  were 
negroes.  Negro  males  of  voting  age  numbered  146,122  and 
formed  32.6  per  cent  of  the  state's  voting  population,  as  against 
34.5  per  cent  in  1890.51  The  discrepancy  which  existed  be 
tween  negroes  who  were  accounted  of  taxable  age  and  the 
number  listed  for  capitation  taxes  by  the  state  was  slightly 
greater  than  in  1890,  amounting  to  14.4  per  cent— as  com 
pared  with  14.7  per  cent  of  taxable  white  males  who  escaped 
assessment.  In  cities  where  the  percentage  of  delinquency  for 
both  races  continued  since  1875  to  be  inordinately  high,  83.2 
per  cent,  or  $19,712  of  an  assessment  which  totalled  $23,682, 
was  returned  delinquent.  It  is  quite  evident  therefore  that  the 
capitation  tax  as  it  pertained  to  negroes  in  cities  was  a  farce 
and  an  almost  complete  failure.  Likewise  for  white  males  in 
cities  the  law  was  scarcely  more  effective,  the  number  of  as 
sessments  to  delinquents  standing  in  1900  as  47,157  to  27,442 
— a  percentage  of  58.2. 

In  addition  to  the  migratory  character  of  the  urban  popula 
tion  two  general  causes  may  be  assigned  for  this  indifference 
to  capitation  assessments.  There  was  no  effective  method  by 
which  enforcement  of  payment  could  be  made  in  the  first  place, 
and  there  was  not  sufficient  interest  to  insure  voluntary  pay 
ment  in  the  second.  The  law  of  18%  placing  a  liability  on 
real  estate  for  delinquent  polls  would  have  been,  if  enforced, 

61  Census  Report,  1890  and  1900. 


THE;  TAXATION  OF  NEGROES  IN  VIRGINIA  25 

less  operative  on  negroes  in  cities  than  in  counties  because 
fewer  negroes  in  cities  were  real  estate  owners.  The  principle 
of  the  law  was  bad  since  the  cost  of  collecting  the  tax  would 
ordinarily  have  been  more  than  the  tax  itself.  Without  an  ef 
fective  means  of  enforcement,  attempts  at  collection  were  futile. 

Capitations  reported  delinquent  usually  remained  so,  a  much 
smaller  proportion  being  subsequently  collected  than  in  the  case 
of  land  and  property  taxes.  In  1900  the  total  amount  of  delin 
quent  capitation  taxes  collected  was  approximately  6  per  cent 
of  the  total  assessment  for  this  year.  Delinquent  real  estate 
and  personal  property  taxes  were  collected  much  more  success 
fully.52 

Table  IV  contains  relative  percentages  of  delinquency  for  ne 
gro  capitations,  divisions  of  the  state  having  been  made  from 
the  percentages  of  negro  population. 

TABLE  IV:    PERCENTAGES  OF  DELINQUENCY  FOR 

NEGROES  IN  DIVISIONS  OF  THE  STATE 

HAVING  DIFFERENT  PERCENTAGES 

OF  NEGRO  POPULATION.63 

Less  than  12^2  per  cent 53.4 

l2l/2  to  25  per  cent 45.5 

25  to  37^  per  cent 47.5 

37^  to  50  per  cent 61.6 

50  to  62^  per  cent 37.8 

per  cent  and  over 26.8 


Twenty  counties  and  two  cities  in  the  southwestern  and 
mountainous  portions  of  the  state  had  a  population  of  which 
negroes  composed  less  than  \2l/2  per  cent.  Some  of  these 
counties  are  among  the  wealthiest  of  the  state,  and  it  might 
have  been  expected  that  where  the  negro  population  was  com- 


52  See  the  following  chapters  for  a  discussion  of  these  subjects  of 
taxation. 

63  Cities  and  counties  are  included  in  the  divisions  in  which  their 
combined  population  falls.  Percentages  of  population  are  based  on 
Federal  Census  Reports  for  1900. 


26  PHELPS-STOKES    FELLOWSHIP    PAPERS 

paritively  small  and  widely  distributed  the  social  and  economic 
conditions  would  have  been  such  as  to  insure  a  low  percentage 
of  delinquent  capitations.  That  this  assumption  does  not  hold 
true  is  due  in  part  to  the  fact  that  a  large  proportion  of  the 
negroes  assessed  were  employed  temporarily  in  various  occu 
pations — principally  mining  and  railroad  construction — and  had 
no  permanent  abode.  The  two  groups  in  which  negroes  rep 
resented  from  12 J/2  to  25  per  cent  respectively  of  the  state's 
population  do  not  deviate  materially  from  the  average  per 
centage  for  the  six  groups  or  from  the  total  percentage  of  the 
state.  The  fourth  division  contains  eight  cities  including  most 
of  the  largest  in  the  commonwealth — a  fact  which  explains  the 
unusually  high  delinquency  percentage  of  61.6  for  this  group. 
It  is  a  striking  fact  that  the  fifth  and  sixth  groups  which  are 
the  two  divisions  in  which  percentages  of  negro  population  are 
greatest,  have  the  least  percentages  of  delinquency.  In  the 
sixth  division  there  are  ten  counties,  in  each  of  which  negroes 
compose  more  than  62^  per  cent  of  the  population,  but  only 
26.8  per  cent  of  poll  assessments  for  them  were  returned  de 
linquent.  It  will  be  remembered  that  the  total  percentage  of 
white  delinquency  for  the  state  was  26.4,  a  margin  of  only 
four  tenths  of  one  per  cent  less  than  for  the  sixth  division 
above.  Inasmuch  as  the  capitation  tax  in  1900  was  applied  ex 
clusively  to  public  school  funds,  the  small  percentage  of  de 
linquency  for  all  counties  and  cities  whose  negro  population 
exceeded  fifty  per  cent  is  creditable.  To  sum  up,  therefore,  we 
may  deduce  the  following  conclusions  from  Table  IV :  ( 1 )  The 
division  of  negro  population  in  which  most  of  the  largest  cities 
are  included  has  the  greatest  percentage  of  delinquency,  and  (2) 
the  divisions  having  the  highest  percentages  of  negro  population 
have  the  lowest  percentages  of  delinquency. 

A  radical  change  of  policy  in  the  administration  of  the  cap 
itation  tax  took  place  in  the  first  three  years  of  the  new 
century.  What  had  previously  been  wholly  a  fiscal  tax  now  be 
came  mainly  a  political  measure,  and  the  state  sacrificed  a  por 
tion  of  the  yield  from  capitations  in  order  to  accomplish  through 
taxation  a  purpose  which  it  believed  desirable.  This  change 
of  policy  was  effected  through  the  new  constitution  in  1901-02. 


THE    TAXATION    OF    NEGROES    IN    VIRGINIA  27 

The  constitution  which  was  finally  adopted  in  1868  had  con 
tained  a  clause  which  limited  the  action  of  future  legislatures 
insofar  as  they  might  undertake  to  revise  or  change  the  suf 
frage  article.  It  was  provided,  "That  no  amendment  or  re 
vision  shall  be  made  which  shall  deny  or  in  any  way  impair  the 
right  of  suffrage  or  any  civil  or  political  right  as  conferred  by 
this  constitution  except  for  causes  which  apply  to  all  classes 
and  persons  without  distinction."  54  This  section  also  provided 
that  the  question  of  calling  a  convention  to  revise  and  amend 
the  constitution  should  not  be  submitted  to  popular  vote  earlier 
than  the  year  1888.  In  1889  and  again  in  1897  proposals  for  a 
convention  were  defeated  by  the  electorate ;  but  in  the  latter  year 
the  majority  of  votes  cast  in  opposition  had  greatly  diminished 
and  sentiment  was  rapidly  crystallizing  in  favor  of  such  a  con 
vention.  When  the  question  was  voted  on  in  1900  it  was  car 
ried  by  a  substantial  majority. 

One  of  the  impelling  desires  for  constitutional  reform  arose 
from  the  need  for  a  complete  revision  of  the  elective  franchise. 
No  attempts  were  made  to  minimize  the  primary  issue  before 
the  convention.  In  the  words  of  the  assistant  secretary  of  the 
convention,  "While  many  reforms  were  wrought  in  the  organic 
law  of  the  commonwealth  by  the  convention  of  1901-2,  the 
great  issue  of  the  convention  was  the  suffrage  and  the  effort 
to  restrict  it  without  contravention  of  the  Federal  Constitution 
and  with  the  least  practicable  reduction  of  the  number  of  white 
voters."  55  The  bitter  struggle  for  political  supremacy  during 
the  period  when  there  were  no  restrictions  on  voting  has  been 
touched  upon  briefly  in  the  foregoing  pages  in  connection  with 
the  poll-tax  requirement  for  suffrage  which  obtained  from  1876 
to  1882.  It  was  widely  thought  that  questionable  methods  were 


M  Constitution  of  1867-8,  Article  XII,  Sec.  I. 

55  J.  N.  Brenaman,  "History  of  Virginia  Conventions,"  82.  "The 
chief  purpose  of  this  convention,"  said  the  Honorable  Carter  Glass, 
delegate  from  Lynchburg,  "is  to  amend  the  suffrage  clauses  of  the 
existing  Constitution.  It  does  not  require  much  prescience  to  fore 
tell  that  the  alterations  which  we  shall  make  will  not  apply  to  all 
persons  and  classes  without  distinction."  (Debates,  Constitutional 
Convention  of  1901-2,  Vol.  I,  54.) 


28  PHELPS-STOKES    FELLOWSHIP    PAPERS 

resorted  to  in  relegating  the  negro  to  the  rear  in  those  counties 
which  had  a  majority  population  of  negroes.  The  awakening 
of  the  people  to  the  menace  of  fraudulent  politics  gave  rise  to 
the  determined  demand  for  a  new  constitution  which  would 
remove  the  negro  from  the  electorate  as  far  and  as  fully  as  this 
could  be  done  by  lawful  means.56 

The  duty  which  had  been  entrusted  to  the  convention  and 
the  task  which  confronted  it  were  not  easy  in  the  performance. 
In  speaking  of  the  suffrage  legislation  which  it  was  incumbent 
on  the  convention  to  enact,  the  president  of  the  convention  re 
ferred  to  it  as  a  subject  of  "transcendent  interest  .and  impor 
tance."  57  Freedom  to  enact  such  measures  as  would  not 
violate  the  fifteenth  amendment  by  discriminating  against  any 
class  of  citizens  on  account  of  "race,  color,  or  previous  condi 
tion  of  servitude/'  was  of  course  unquestioned  but  it  was  dif 
ficult  to  draw  a  clause  that  would  in  effect  disfranchise  the  bulk 
of  incompetent  votes  without  violating  that  amendment.  The 
horns  of  the  dilemma  which  the  committee  appointed  to  draft 
the  suffrage  article  was  obliged  to  confront  were,  first,  to 
place  such  restrictions  on  suffrage  .as  would  exclude  the  mass 
of  the  negro  vote;  second,  to  affect  the  white  vote  as  little  as 
possible.  A  mere  literacy  test  was  impossible  of  adoption,  be 
cause  the  higher  percentage  of  illiteracy  was  found  in  the 
mountainous  portions  of  the  state  where  there  were  few  ne 
groes.  Conditions  in  the  western  counties,  where  the  negro 
population  has  always  been  extremely  small,  were  entirely  dif 
ferent  from  those  of  the  eastern  and  southside,  or  "Black 
Belt"  counties.  It  was  difficult  to  obtain  an  "understanding" 
clause  or  a  capable  clause  based  on  literacy  without  at  the  same 
time  disfranchising  many  of  the  whites.  Except  for  party 
affiliations  there  was  no  objection  offered  by  the  members  of 
the  committee  on  suffrage  from  the  western  part  of  the  state 
to  the  disfranchisement  of  negroes  so  long  as  the  white  vote 
was  not  interfered  with.  In  giving  to  the  convention  the  ma 
jority  report  of  the  committee  Mr.  Watson  thus  commented  on 

M  Ibid.,  Vol.  II,  253. 
57  Hon.  John  Goode. 


THE    TAXATION    OF    NEGROES    IN    VIRGINIA  29 

this  difficulty:  "Political,  economic,  and  social  conditions,  va 
riant  as  the  soil  itself  in  the  different  sections  of  the  state, 
have  greatly  complicated  the  undertaking  and  protracted  the 
investigation  beyond  the  anticipation  of  many  wise  and  good 
citizens.  To  strike  from  the  suffrage  the  alien  and  the  enemy 
in  eastern  Virginia  and  at  the  same  time  leave  untouched  the 
worthy  but  illiterate  Anglo-Saxon  of  the  mountain  side  and  to 
the  west  beyond,  was  not  an  easy  task  for  the  mind  to  conceive 
nor  for  the  hand  to  execute."  58  In  other  words,  recognition 
of  certain  distinctive  features  was  necessary  in  framing  Vir 
ginia's  suffrage  article,  and  for  this  reason  the  principles  which 
had  been  followed  by  other  Southern  states  in  revising  the 
suffrage  articles  of  their  respective  constitutions  were  not  ap 
plicable  to  the  needs  of  Virginia. 

It  may  be  stated  here  that  while  a  large  majority  of  the 
members  of  the  convention  thought  it  a  wise  plan  to  curtail 
the  negro  vote  the  method  for  doing  this  was  not  to  be  one  of 
any  sort  of  discrimination  merely  along  race  lines.  Whatever 
laws  were  passed  would  be,  it  was  hoped,  administered  strictly 
and  justly  to  whites  and  negroes  alike.  For  instance,  if  an 
"understanding"  clause  for  registration  were  passed  it  would 
in  purpose  apply  to  all  applicants  in  exactly  the  same  manner. 
It  may  be  noted  again  that  there  was  no  fear  of  a  negro  ma 
jority  in  the  state;  but  only  in  the  counties  of  the  "Black  Belt" 
was  it  felt  that  relief  was  needed  from  the  negro  vote.  Rep 
resentatives  of  the  densely  populated  negro  sections,  there 
fore,  advocated  more  stringent  qualifications  for  the  suffrage 
amendment  than  those  of  the  other  sections.  It  was  hoped  by 
all,  however,  that  the  laws  would  be  in  conformity  with  the 
Federal  Constitution,  practical  of  operation,  and  as  far  as  pos 
sible  free  from  maladministration. 

It  is  essential  that  proper  significance  be  attached  to  the  facts 
set  forth  above  if  a  clear  understanding  be  obtained  of  the  cir 
cumstances  by  which  prepayment  of  the  capitation  tax  for 
voting  was  made  a  fundamental  part  of  the  constitution.  Be 
ginning  with  the  year  1904  payment  of  the  tax  was  made  a 

68  Debates  of  the  Constitutional  Convention,  Vol.  I,  598. 


30  PHEXPS-STOKES    FELLOWSHIP     PAPERS 

requirement  for  registration.  This  provision  was  contained  in 
section  20  of  the  second  article  of  the  constitution : 

"After  the  first  day  of  January,  nineteen  hundred  and  four, 
every  male  citizen  of  the  United  States,  having  the  qualifica 
tions  of  age  and  residence  required  in  section  Eighteen,  shall 
be  entitled  to  register,  provided:  First,  That  he  personally 
paid  to  the  proper  officer  all  State  poll-taxes  assessed  or  as 
sessable  against  him,  under  this  or  the  former  Constitution, 
for  the  three  years  next  preceding  that  in  which  he  offers  to 
register;  or,  if  he  come  of  age  at  such  time  that  no  poll-tax 
shall  have  been  assessable  against  him  for  the  year  preceding 
the  year  in  which  he  offers  to  register,  has  paid  one  dollar  and 
fifty  cents,  in  satisfaction  of  the  first  year's  poll-tax  assessable 
against  him;"  etc. 

Section  nineteen  of  the  suffrage  article  provided  for  a  gen 
eral  registration  of  voters  during  the  years  1902  and  1903  but 
payment  of  the  capitation  tax  was  not  made  a  requirement  for 
voting  until  after  the  first  day  of  January  1904.  If  all  eligible 
citizens  complied  with  the  general  registration  clause  which 
obtained  in  1902-3,  then  section  twenty  of  the  suffrage  article 
would  have  been  applicable  only  to  citizens  of  voting  age  im 
migrating  from  other  states  and  to  those  who  attained  the  age 
of  twenty-one  years  within  the  state.  Persons  failing  to  reg 
ister  prior  to  1904  were  forced,  in  order  to  be  eligible  for  reg 
istration  subsequently  thereto,  to  pay  the  capitation  taxes  as 
sessed  against  them  for  the  preceding  three  years.  Not  only 
was  prepayment  of  the  capitation  tax  made  a  requirement  for 
registration  after  1904  but  it  was  also  imposed  as  a  condition 
for  voting.  Section  twenty-one  provided  that  "Any  person 
registered  under  either  of  the  last  two  sections,  shall  have  the 
right  to  vote  for  members  of  the  General  Assembly  and  all 
officers  elective  by  the  people,  subject  to  the  following  condi 
tions  : 

"That  he,  unless    exempted  by  section    twenty-two,59   shall, 

68  Under  section  twenty-two  "no  person  who,  during  the  late  war 
between  the  States,  served  in  the  army  or  navy  of  the  United  States, 
or  any  State  of  the  United  States,  or  of  the  Confederate  States,  shall 


THE    TAXATION    OF    NEGROES    IN    VIRGINIA  31 

as  a  prerequisite  to  the  right  to  vote  after  the  first  day  of  Jan 
uary,  nineteen  hundred  and  four,  personally  pay,  at  least  six 
months  prior  to  the  election,  all  State  poll  taxes  assessed  or 
assessable  against  him,  under  this  Constitution,  during  the 
three  years  next  preceding  that  in  which  he  offers  to  vote ;  etc." 
The  reason  for  inserting  the  phrase,  "That  he  personally  pay 
to  the  proper  officer  all  State  poll  taxes  assessed,  etc.,"  is  quite 
obvious.  It  was  intended  to  prevent  candidates  for  office  and 
politicians  from  paying  the  tax  for  a  large  class  of  voters  with 
a  view  to  securing  votes - 

All  male  residents  of  the  state  twenty-one  years  of  age  were 
assessed  with  the  capitation  tax  except  those  pensioned  for 
military  services.  Levying  the  tax  was  not  conditioned  upon 
registration  or  the  exercise  of  suffrage.  Presumably  many 
citizens  who  for  whatever  reason  were  not  voters  and  who 
failed  to  pay  their  poll  assessments  six  months  prior  to  the 
election  would  pay  the  tax  at  a  later  date.  It  was  not  intended 
that  the  percentage  of  delinquency  in  head  taxes  should  be 
augmented  by  imposing  the  tax  as  a  prerequisite  to  voting. 
Section  173  of  chapter  XIII  of  the  constitution  contained  the 
general  provision  levying  capitation  taxes  and  provided  for 
distribution  of  the  revenue  collected  from  this  source.60 


at  any  time  be  required  to  pay  a  poll-tax  as  a  prerequisite  to  the 
right  to  register  or  vote.  The  collection  of  the  State  poll-tax  as 
sessed  against  anyone  shall  not  be  enforced  by  legal  process  until 
the  same  has  become  three  years  past  due. 

60  "The  General  Assembly  shall  levy  a  State  capitation  tax  of,  and 
not  exceeding,  one  dollar  and  fifty  cents  per  annum  on  every  male 
resident  of  the  State  not  less  than  twenty-one  years  of  age,  except 
those  pensioned  by  this  State  for  military  services;  one  dollar  of 
which  shall  be  appointed  exclusively  in  aid  of  the  free  public  schools, 
in  proportion  to  the  school  population,  and  the  residue  shall  be  re 
turned  and  paid  by  the  State  into  the  treasury  of  the  county  or  city 
in  which  it  was  collected,  to  be  appropriated  by  the  proper  county 
or  city  authorities  to  such  county  or  city  purposes  as  they  shall  re 
spectively  determine;  but  said  State  capitation  tax  shall  not  be  a 
lien  upon,  nor  collected  by  legal  process  from,  the  personal  prop 
erty  which  may  be  exempt  from  levy  or  distress  under  the  poor 
debtor's  law.  The  General  Assembly  may  authorize  the  board  of 


32  PHELPS-STOKES    FELLOWSHIP    PAPERS 

In  order  to  prevent  fraud  or  confusion  the  General  Assembly 
passed  an  act  by  which  duly  registered  voters  whose  assess 
ment  for  capitation  taxes  had  been  omitted  should  be  allowed, 
upon  presentation  of  a  certificate  from  the  county  clerk  or 
clerk  of  the  city  court,  to  pay  such  taxes  to  the  treasurer  and 
obtain  a  receipt  therefor.61  To  the  General  Assembly  was  left 
the  matter  of  determining  what  property  should  be  attached 
for  unpaid  capitation  assessments.  The  law  of  1896  making 
delinquent  polls  a  lien  upon  real  estate  was  continued  in  force 
by  the  acts  of  1 902-3-4  62  It  contained  the  additional  act  how 
ever  "that  no  real  estate  shall  be  sold  for  the  payment  of  any 
State  capitation  tax  until  such  tax  shall  have  become  three 
years  past  due." 63 

While  it  was  optional  for  counties  and  cities  to  impose  a  capi 
tation  tax  of  fifty  cents  prior  to  1902,  only  one  dollar  was  col 
lected  by  the  state.  Since  1903  the  state  collects  $1.50,  or  the 
full  amount  of  the  assessment  and  returns  one-third  of  the  re 
ceipts  to  the  counties  and  cities.  Special  tax  tickets  are  pre 
pared  by  the  treasurer  for  persons  assessed  only  with  poll-taxes. 
Capitations  are  included,  however,  in  the  ticket  containing  as 
sessments  of  real  estate,  personal  property,  etc.,  when  there  are 
such  and  a  special  ticket  is  made  out.  When  capitations  are 
paid  before  the  remainder  of  the  taxes  in  the  ticket  fall  due,  the 
treasurer  gives  a  receipt  and  makes  a  record  of  such  payment 
on  the  tax  ticket.  The  following  tables  show  the  annual  capita 
tion  assessments  and  the  amounts  returned  delinquent  in  the 
counties  and  cities  respectively  since  1900: 


supervisors  of  any  county,  or  council  of  any  city  or  town,  to  levy  an 
additional  capitation  tax  not  exceeding  one  dollar  per  annum  on 
every  such  resident  within  its  limits,  which  shall  be  applied  in  aid 
of  the  public  schools  of  such  county,  city  or  town,  or  for  such  other 
county,  city  or  town  purposes  as  they  shall  determine." 
81  Acts  of  Assembly  1902-3-4,  559. 

62  See  above,  note  50. 

63  Acts  1895-96,  402;  1902-3-4,  55;  Pollard  Code,  Vol.  I,  Sec.  636a. 


THE;  TAXATION  OF  NEGROES  IN  VIRGINIA  33 

TABLE  V:    CAPITATION  ASSESSMENTS  1901-1914.64 


Year 

Counties 

Cities 

Total 

1901     .. 

$313,214 

$  72,590 

$385,804 

1902     .  . 

315,581 

73,704 

389,285 

1903    .. 

469,779 

115,058 

584,837 

1904     .. 

479,659 

120,682 

600,341 

1905     .  . 

490,575 

124,214 

614,790 

1906     .  . 

487,275 

125,804 

613,080 

1907     .  . 

,  .  .  .      487,087 

140,940 

628,027 

1-908     .  . 

500,795 

148,132 

648,928 

1909    .  . 

505,875 

157,943 

663,818 

1910    .. 

510,498 

152,513 

663,011 

1911     .. 

509,445 

161,384 

670,829 

1912     .. 

514,135 

162,342 

676,478 

1913     .. 

514,563 

166,157 

680',720 

1914 

520,011 

169,403 

689,414 

TABLE 

VI:  CAPITATION  TAXES 

RETURNED 

DELIN- 

QUENT  1901-1914 

.65 

Year 

Counties 

Cities 

Total 

1901    .  . 

$  80,222 

$48,810 

$129,032 

1902    .. 

92,410 

49,038 

141,448 

1903    .  . 

141,868 

64,708 

206,575 

1904    .  . 

150,107 

69,418 

219,525 

1906    .. 

159,546 

71,928 

231,474 

1906    .  . 

160,692 

74,406 

235,098 

1907     .  . 

158,670 

76,943 

235,612 

190*8     .  . 

171,408 

78,699 

250,107 

1909     .. 

168,506 

82,741 

251,247 

1910    .  . 

173,353 

88,009 

261,363 

1911     .  . 

173,992 

94,144 

268,137 

1912     .  . 

179,993 

89,404 

269,397 

1913     .. 

176,069 

93,100 

269,170 

1914     .  , 

178,772 

99,237 

278,009 

*  Report,  Auditor  of  Public  Accounts,  1915,  313. 
85  Figures  for  1901  and  1902  are  the  amounts  returned  delinquent; 
since  1902  for  the  amounts  returned  delinquent  but  not  collected. 

—3 


34  PHEXPS-STOKES    FELLOWSHIP    PAPERS 

A  glance  at  Tables  V  and  VI  reveals  the  fact  that  capitation 
assessments  for  the  state  as  a  whole  increased  slightly  and  at  a 
normal  rate  during  the  first  three  years  of  the  new  century.  In 
1903  the  tax  imposed  by  the  new  constitution  became  effective 
and  an  additional  fifty  cents  per  capita  was  levied.  Conse 
quently  the  state's  total  capitation  assessments  for  1903  were 
approximately  one-third  greater  than  in  1902.  By  deducting 
one-third  of  $584,837  it  will  be  found  that  the  number  of  males 
entered  for  poll-taxes  in  1903  was  but  slightly  greater  than  the 
previous  year.  There  was  a  notable  increase  for  the  subsequent 
year,  however,  when  about  6,520  more  males  were  assessed. 
From  1903  to  1914  it  will  be  seen  that  the  state's  total  assess 
ments  at  $1.50  per  capita  increased  more  than  $100,000,  or 
nearly  18%.  The  total  delinquency  for  1914  was  greater  than 
for  1903  by  $71,433.37  and  the  percentage  of  total  delinquency 
for  1914  was  40.3  as  against  35.3  in  1903.  For  the  year  1900 
this  percentage  was  only  33.4 — or  approximately  one-third  of 
the  state's  capitation  assessments  was  returned  delinquent.  By 
1914  the  fraction  had  grown  to  two-fifths.  Of  the  total  amounts 
returned  delinquent  from  1903-1914  but  $134,226  was  collected 
afterwards.  The  above  comparisons  will  give  a  general  idea  of 
the  relation  between  Virginia's  total  capitation  .assessments  and 
total  percentages  of  delinquency  from  1900  to  the  present  time. 
A  more  detailed  comparison  for  whites  and  negroes  during  this 
period  will  be  afforded  by  Table  VII.  (See  page  35.) 

Assessments  for  white  males  increased  rapidly  during  the 
first  fourteen  years  of  the  new  century.  The  sudden  leap  which 
occurred  for  both  whites  and  negroes  in  1903  resulted  from  the 
new  tax  law  imposing  an  additional  fifty  cents  per  capita.  Be 
ginning  with  this  year  it  is  necessary  in  order  to  obtain  the 
number  of  males  assessed  to  subtract  one-third  of  the  amount 
of  the  annual  assessments.  This  number  for  whites  was,  in 
1903,  265,671,  a  slight  increase  over  1902,  but  in  1904  when 
prepayment  of  the  capitation  tax  was  made  a  requirement  for 
suffrage  nearly  10,000  more  white  males  were  assessed.  By 
1910  the  total  number  had  increased  to  311,991  and  in  1914  to 
330,582.  Colored  assessments  on  the  other  hand  remained 
practically  stationary  during  the  first  four  years  after  1900. 


THE;  TAXATION  OF  NEGROES  IN  VIRGINIA 


35 


TABLE    VII:    ASSESSMENTS,    DELINQUENCES,    AND    PER- 

CENTAGES  OF  DELINQUENCY   FOR  WHITES 

AND   NEGROES.66 


Year 
1900   . 

Assess 
Whites 
.  .   $257  123 

sments 
Negroes 
$125,033 
125,788 
125,533 
186,330 
186,934 
189,579 
188,257 
188,674 
192,371 
194,592 
195,024 
196,380 
194,090 
191,865 
193,541 

Delinquencies 
Whites  Negroes 
$67,954   $59,612 
68,663    60,369 
75,305    66,143 
99,597   106,401 
109,865   109,714 
119,526   112,015 
119,278   114,162 
125,050   113,568 
132,094   117,468 
132,634   118,613 
136,791   124,571 
144,595   123,542 
146,915   122,482 
149,481   119,689 
152,893   125,116 

%  Delinquent 
Whites  Negroes 
26.4      47.7 
26.4      48.0 
28.4      52.7 
25.0      57.1 
26.6      58.7 
28.1      59.1 
28.1      60.6 
28.5      60.2 
28.9      61.1 
28.3      60.9 
29.2      63.9 
30.5      62.9 
30.4      63.1 
30.5      62.4 
30.8      64.6 

1901  ... 

....   260  016 

1902 

264  752 

1903 

398  507 

1904  ... 
1905  ... 

413,408 
....   425,210 

1906 

424  822 

1907  ... 

....   439354 

1908  ... 

,  .  .  .  .   456,557 

19O9 

469  226 

1910  ... 

....   467  987 

1911 

474  449 

1912 

482  388 

1913  ... 

....   488  855 

1914  ... 

....   495,817 

There  was  a  small  increase  in  1905,  again  in  1908,  and  in  1911 
the  maximum  was  reached  when  the  number  assessed  was 
130,920.  The  actual  gain  represented  by  this  figure  over  the 
lowest  assessment  for  the  entire  period,  that  of  1900,  was  but 
5,887.  Since  1900  the  number  of  negro  males  assessed  has  de 
clined.  Bearing  upon  the  influx  of  negroes  in  cities  is  the  note 
worthy  fact  that  poll  assessments  for  counties  and  towns  of  the 
state  remained  practically  stationary  from  1900  to  1910  and 
since  1910  have  steadily  declined.67  The  maximum  total  as 
sessments  for  negroes,  as  was  stated,  occurred  in  1911  and  rep 
resented  an  annual  increase  of  5,887  over  the  number  in  1900. 
In  1911,  however,  there  were  6,794  more  negro  males  assessed 


68  Percentages  for  years  prior  to  1909  are  based  on  capitations  re 
turned  delinquent;  since  1909  on  the  amounts  uncollected,  subsequent 
collections  being  deducted. 

87  For  a  study  of  the  negro's  status  in  the  rural  sections  of  Virginia, 
see  S.  T.  Bitting,  "Rural  Land  Ownership  among  the  Negroes  of 
Virginia." 


36  PHEXPS-STOKES    FELLOWSHIP    PAPERS 

in  cities  than  in   1900 — or  a  decrease  of  nearly  one  thousand 
males  took  place  in  the  towns  and  counties. 

The  principal  reason  for  the  static  condition  of  negro  assess 
ments  since  1900  is  the  small  growth  of  the  state's  negro  pop 
ulation.  For  the  first  decade  there  was  an  increase  in  negro 
population  of  scarcely  more  than  10,000  persons.68  Less  than 
2,300  negro  males  of  voting  age  had  been  added  in  1910  to  the 
census  report  of  1900,  and  the  total  percentage  for  the  state  of 
such  had  decreased  from  32.6  to  30.5.  A  reverse  condition  was 
of  course  true  for  the  state's  white  population  as  well  as  in  the 
case  of  white  males  of  voting  age.  During  the  years  1900-1910 
the  percentage  of  the  latter  increased  from  67.3  to  69.5.  The 
divergence  between  the  number  assessed  by  the  state  for  capi 
tations  and  those  who  were  found  of  taxable  age  by  the  Census 
surveys  for  1890,  1900,  and  1910  is  shown  in  Table  VIII. 

TABLE  VIII:   CAPITATION   ASSESSMENTS   AS   COMPARED 

WITH  THE  NUMBER  REPORTED  OF  TAXABLE  AGE 

BY  THE  FEDERAL   CENSUS   FOR  THE 

YEARS  1890,  1900  AND  1910. 

Whites  Negroes 

Year                   Cen.  Report     Assessments  Cen.  Report     Assessments 

1890    248,035                211,869  130,747                  114,947 

1900    301,379                257,123  146,122                  125,033 

1910   363,659                311,991  159,593                  130,016 


In  1900  there  were  44,256  more  white  males  reported  of  vot 
ing  age  than  were  assessed  by  the  state  for  capitations.  For 
1910  the  number  increased  by  16.7  per  cent  and  amounted  to 
51,688.  The  difference  for  negroes  was,  in  1900,  21,089  and  in 
1910,  29,577,  an  actual  increase  of  8,488,  or  40.2  per  cent. 
The  percentage  of  white  males  of  assessable  age  who  were  not 
listed  for  capitations  decreased  by  one-half  of  one  per  cent  be 
tween  1900  and  1910;  for  negroes  however  there  was  a  notable 
increase,  the  percentage  rising  from  14.4  in  1900  to  18.5  in  1910. 
This  increase  in  the  percentage  of  negro  males  who  escaped  as- 

68  Census  Report  1910. 


THE;  TAXATION  OF  NEGROES  IN  VIRGINIA  37 

sessment  resulted  in  part  from  conditions  effected  by  the  new 
constitution.  The  tendency  if  such  it  may  be  called  may  be  ex 
plained  by  (1)  the  virtual  disfranchisement  of  the  negro,  (2) 
a  lack  of  vigilance  on  the  part  of  commissioners,  and  (3)  the 
rapid  growth  of  city  population.  In  1910  the  General  Assembly 
reconstructed  the  legislative  statutes  of  1902-3-4  which  provided 
a  means  of  adjusting  omitted  capitation  assessments  and  for  as 
sessing  persons  coming  of  age  each  year.6&<  Thus  the  purpose 
of  the  act  was  not  only  to  facilitate  the  method  by  which  per 
sons  who  had  inadvertently  been  overlooked  by  commissioners 
might  be  assessed  but  also,  in  spirit  at  least,  it  was  to  encourage 
payment  of  the  tax  by  all — especially  those  who  were  otherwise 
qualified  for  voting. 

In  the  matter  of  delinquency  white  capitations  may  be  dis 
missed  in  a  few  words.  A  very  gradual  but  perceptible  rise  in 
the  delinquency  percentages  occurred  from  1900-1914.  Although 
the  increase  was  not  rapid  at  any  specific  time,  there  was  for 
the  whole  period  a  growth  of  more  than  four  per  cent.  A  study 
of  Table  X  shows  that  the  increase  occurred  in  counties — the 
rise  in  cities  being  negligible.  It  is  also  noticeable  that  the  pro 
nounced  fluctuations  in  the  column  for  cities  are  not  so  appar 
ent  in  that  for  counties.  The  total  white  delinquency  in  1914  was 
30.8  per  cent.  Thus  a  large  minority  of  whites  omitted  to  pay 
their  capitation  taxes.  Two  reasons  may  be  suggested  for  the  in 
crease  which  has  taken  place  since  1903.  In  the  first  place  the 
tax  was  raised  from  $1.00  to  $1.50,  and  in  the  second,  the  dom 
inating  influence  of  a  single  party  regime  in  many  counties  and 
congressional  districts  has  lessened  the  importance  of  the  ballot. 
The  imperativeness  of  the  ballot  diminished  with  the  absence  of 
close  party  rivalry. 

Certainly  lack  of  compulsion  or  mode  of  enforcement  has 
been  an  important  factor  in  the  enormous  rise,  since  1903,  of 
delinquent  negro  capitations.  A  glance  at  the  percentage  col 
umn  for  negroes  in  Table  VII  will  suffice  to  show  the  rapidky 
with  which  unpaid  negro  polls,  since  the  enactment  of  the  new 
constitution,  have  been  allowed  to  increase.  The  graph  lines 

80  Acts,  1910,  464. 


38  PHELPS-STOKES    FELLOWSHIP    PAPERS 

on  page  39  illustrate  this  increase  to  good  advantage  and  afford  a 
comparison  for  whites  and  negroes.  From  1900,  the  year  in 
which  a  constitutional  convention  was  provided  for,  to  1914  the 
percentage  of  delinquent  negro  capitations  rose  from  47.7  to 
64.6.  In  1914  nearly  two-thirds  of  the  negro  males  assessed  al 
lowed  their  poll  taxes  to  go  unpaid.  Table  IX  contains  the  rela- 

TABLE    IX:    PERCENTAGES    OF    DELINQUENCY    FOR    1900 

AND  1910  FOR  DIVISIONS  OF  THE  STATE  BASED 

ON  NEGRO   POPULATION. 

Negro  Population  1900  1910 

Less  than  12^  per  cent  of  total  population 53.4  60.1 

12*/2  to  25  per  cent  of  total  population 45.5  60.3 

25  to  37^   per  cent  of  total  population 47.5  73.5 

37^  to  50  per  cent  of  total  population 61.6  68.4 

50  to  62^   per  cent  of  total  population 37.8  53.3 

Above  62^  per  cent  of  total  population 26.8  66.9 

State..  47.7  63.9 


tive  percentages  of  delinquency  in  1900  and  1910  for  divisions 
of  the  state  based  on  population.  '  As  might  have  been  expected 
the  figures  for  1900  and  1910  vary  considerably  in  each  divi 
sion,  the  percentage  in  1910  being  larger  in  every  instance  than 
in  1900. 

A  comparison  of  the  percentages  of  delinquency  for  negroes 
since  1900  may  be  found  in  Table  XI  for  counties  and  cities.  De 
linquency  in  cities  has  always  been  much  greater  than  in  coun 
ties  and  in  1900  marked  a  total  of  83.2  per  cent.  As  the  in 
crease  since  1904  has  been  negligible  the  assumption  is  fairly 
warranted  that  a  limit  has  been  reached  and  that  a  margin  of 
approximately  fifteen  per  cent  of  negro  males  assessed  may  be 
expected  to  pay  the  tax  in  cities.  In  counties  the  point  where 
further  rise  in  the  delinquency  column  may  not  be  expected  has 
apparently  not  been  reached.  A  total  which  amounted  to  but 
39.4%  in  1900  advanced  to  58%  in  1914.  Upon  delinquent  ne 
gro  polls  therefore  it  is  evident  that  the  new  constitution  has 
had  almost  no  effect  in  cities  but  has  applied  almost  wholly  to 
counties. 


THE    TAXATION    OF    NEGROES    IN    VIRGINIA 


1690 


'O6   'OB 


96  J9OO  ' 

fear. 

Percentage  of  White  and  Negro  Capitation  Tax  Delinquency  in 
Successive  Years. 


40 


PHELPS-STOKES    FELLOWSHIP    PAPERS 


TABLE  X:  ASSESSMENTS,  DELINQUENCIES,  AND  PER- 
CENTAGES  OF  DELINQUENCY  FOR  WHITE  CAPITA 
TIONS  IN  COUNTIES  AND  CITIES  SINCE  1900.70 


Year 
1900  

Assess. 
.  .  .  .  $209,996 

Counties 
Delin.  % 
$39,558 

Delin. 
18.8 

Assess. 

$  47  157 

Cities 
Delin. 
$  27  443 

%  Delin. 
58  2 

1901  .... 

210,763 

39,189 

18.6 

49,253 

29  474 

59  8 

1902 

213  572 

56,167 

26  3 

51  180 

30  192 

59  0 

1903  .  .  . 

.  .  ..   318  273 

64  257 

20.2 

80235 

35  340 

440 

1904 

328  182 

70  807 

21  6 

85  226 

39  058 

45  8 

1905 

335  799 

77  314 

23  0 

89  491 

42  211 

47  2 

1906 

.  .  .  .   334  302 

74  903 

22  4 

90520 

44  376 

49  0 

1907  .... 

.  .  .  .   337,430 

77,912 

23.1 

101  924 

47  139 

46  2 

1908 

347  873 

86  348 

248 

108  684 

45  746 

42  1 

1909 

352  830 

84  579 

24  0 

116  396 

48  0'56 

41  3 

1910  

358124 

85  436 

23.9 

109  863 

51  356 

46  7 

1911 

.  .  ..   358,779 

89,864 

25.0 

115,669 

54731 

47.3 

1912 

364  977 

95  936 

26  3 

117  411 

50  978 

43  4 

1913 

367  385 

94  369 

25  7 

121  470 

55  112 

45  4 

1914  

.  .  .   372  846 

93  461 

25  1 

123  027 

59  432 

48  3 

TABLE  XI:  ASSESSMENTS,  DELINQUENCIES,  AND  PER- 
CENTAGES  OF  DELINQUENCY  FOR  NEGRO  CAPITA- 
TIONS  IN  COUNTIES  AND  CITIES  SINCE  1900J1 


Year 
1900  

Assess. 
$101  351 

Counties 
Delin.  % 
$39  900 

Delin. 
39.4 

Assess. 
$  23  682 

Cities 
Delin.   < 

$  19  712 

%>  Delin. 
83.2 

1901  .... 

.  .  .  .   102,451 

41,033 

40.1 

23,337 

19  336 

829 

1902 

103  OO9 

47  297 

45  8 

22  524 

18  846 

83  4 

1903 

151  506 

77  034 

508 

34  824 

29  367 

84  3 

1904  .... 

151  477 

79  350 

52  4 

35  457 

30  364 

85.6 

1905  .... 

.  .  .  .   154,857 

82,290 

53.1 

34,723 

29,726 

85.6 

1906 

152  973 

84  132 

55  0 

35  285 

30  030 

85  1 

1907  .... 

.  .  .  .   149  657 

80764 

54.0 

39  017 

32  804 

84.1 

1908  

.  .  .  .   152,922 

84,515 

55.3 

39,449 

32,954 

83.5 

1909 

153  045 

83  927 

548 

41  547 

34  685 

83  5 

1910 

.  .  .  .   152  375 

87  918 

57.7 

42,650 

36  654 

86.0 

1911  

.  .  .  .   150,666 

84,128 

55.8 

45,714 

39,414 

86.2 

1912 

149  159 

84  056 

56  3 

44  931 

38  426 

85  5 

1913 

.   147  179 

81,700 

55.5 

44,687 

37  988 

84  9 

1914  .... 

.  .  .  .   147,165 

85,311 

58.0 

46,376 

39,805 

85.8 

10  Compiled  from  "Rough  Settlements"  and  Auditor's  Reports. 
n  Ibid. 


THE;  TAXATION  OF  NEGROES  IN  VIRGINIA  41 

Nominally  there  has  continued  to  exist  a  statute  for  enforc 
ing  payment  of  capitations  three  years  past  due  but,  practically, 
the  law  has  remained  a  dead  letter.  In  the  knowledge  of  the 
writer  no  case  has  ever  occurred  in  which  real  estate  has  been 
sold  to  discharge  a  lien  consisting  of  poll  taxes  alone.  Obvi 
ously  many  negroes  are  not  owners  of  real  estate;  quite  ob 
viously  too  not  a  few  negroes  who  are  assessed  with  poll  taxes 
are  not  owners  of  any  property  whatsoever.  If  it  is  a  sound 
principle  of  taxation  that  all  should  contribute  to  the  expenses 
of  government  in  proportion  to  the  ability  to  pay,  it  would  ap 
parently  be  a  good  thing  for  the  state  to  provide  a  more  logical 
and  feasible  means  of  enforcing  collection  of  the  tax. 

To  this  end  the  General  Assembly  at  its  biennial  session  in 
1916  passed  an  act  for  enforcing  payment  of  delinquent  polls.72 
Provision  is  made  for  a  special  delinquent  capitation  tax  collec 
tor  in  each  county  and  city,  whose  duty  it  is  "to  enforce  the  col 
lection  by  levy,  garnishment,  or  otherwise"  of  capitation  taxes 
"as  much  as  three  and  not  exceeding  five"  years  past  due.  The 
clerk  of  the  city  or  circuit' court  is  required  on  or  before  the  first 
day  of  October  of  each  year,  to  compile  a  list  of  all  persons 
with  delinquent  taxes  for  the  years  designated  in  the  act  and  to 
furnish  copies  to  the  State  Auditor  of  Public  Accounts  and  to 
the  special  collector.  For  making  out  the  list  of  names  the  clerk 


72  Act  approved  March  22,  1916;  Virginia  Tax  Laws,  185.  Sec 
tion  3  of  the  act  reads,  "On  or  before  the  first  day  of  October  of 
each  year  the  clerk  of  the  court  appointing  the  delinquent  capitation 
tax  collector,  shall  make  out  a  duplicate  list  of  all  persons  within 
his  county  or  city  who  shall  be  as  much  as  three  (3)  and  not  ex 
ceeding  five  (5)  years  delinquent  in  payment  of  capitation  taxes,  one 
of  said  lists  shall  be  sent  to  the  auditor  of  public  accounts  and 
the  other  list  shall  be  by  said  clerk  delivered  to  the  delin 
quent  capitation  tax  collector  and  as  a  compensation  for  his  work  in 
making  out  said  list  shall  receive  five  (5)  per  centum  of  all  moneys 
collected  from  the  said  list  by  him  made,  which  said  amount  shall 
be  retained  by  said  clerk  out  of  the  money  paid  over  to  him  by  the  said 
collector,  and  the  clerk  shall  annually  on  or  before  the  fifteenth  day 
of  October  pay  into  the  State  treasury,  through  the  office  of  the 
auditor  of  public  accounts,  the  amount  paid  over  to  him  by  the  said 
collector,  less  the  commission  authorized  by  this  act  to  be  retained 
by  the  clerk." 


42  PHEXPS-STOKES    FELLOWSHIP    PAPERS 

receives  a  remuneration  of  five  per  cent  from  the  total  amount 
collected.  The  special  collector  receives  for  his  services  twenty 
per  cent  of  the  total  collections. 

The  immediate  reason  for  the  enactment  of  this  law  was  a 
threatened  deficit  in  the  state's  revenue.  It  was  not  a  change 
of  policy  resulting  directly  from  the  high  percentage  of  insol 
vency  for  negroes  in  counties  and  for  both  whites  and  negroes 
in  cities.  The  act  was  one  among  numerous  fiscal  measures  de 
signed  to  prevent  a  treasury  deficit.  It  supplants  the  provision 
of  1902-3-4  in  which  delinquent  capitations  were  a  lien  on  real 
estate  only,  and  all  property  is  now  liable  by  "levy,  garnishment, 
or  otherwise"  as  a  means  of  enforcing  payment.  Since  a  col 
lector  must  be  appointed  for  every  county  and  city  the  law,  in 
its  modus  operandi,  should  be  direct  and  certain.  It  seems 
doubtful,  however,  whether  the  percentage  of  current  delin 
quency  will  be  greatly  reduced  or  whether  suffrage  will  be  aug 
mented — a  result  certainly  not  intended  by  the  framers  of  the 
law.  The  attorney-general  in  a  recent  ruling  limited  the  tax  in 
its  application  to  two  years,  holding  as  unconstitutional  that 
portion  of  the  clause  which  instructs  special  collectors  to  take 
proceedings  against  persons  "as  much  as  three"  years  delin 
quent.73  Hence  in  the  first  year  of  its  enforcement,  1916,  the 
law  is  applicable  only  to  delinquent  capitations  of  1911  and  1912. 

It  is  impossible  to  say  which  of  the  provisions  of  the  suffrage 
article  have  been  most  effective  in  disfranchising  the  negro  in 
Virginia,  and  such  a  discussion  is  beyond  the  province  of  this 
paper  except  in  so  far  as  it  is  related  to  the  capitation  tax.  Pre 
payment  of  the  tax  as  a  requirement  for  voting  has  undoubt 
edly  been  a  potent  factor.  The  effect  of  the  new  suffrage  ar 
ticle  was  in  a  way  psychological.  The  negro  learning  that  his 
disfranchisement  was  one  of  the  purposes  of  the  convention  did 
not  attempt  to  meet  the  requirement  of  registration — especially 
when  the  capitation  tax  was  imposed  as  a  prerequisite  also.  He 
felt  that  the  ballot  was  not  worth  the  trouble.  Realizing  that 
payment  of  the  capitation  tax  six  months  before  election  was 
essential  for  voting  and  that  the  ballot  was  a  privilege  not  to  be 

78  Richmond  Times-Dispatch,  July  22,  1916,  12. 


THE;  TAXATION  OF  NEGROES  IN  VIRGINIA  43 

enjoyed  except  by  paying  it,  he,  as  he  did  not  enjoy  the  privi 
lege,  felt  no  compunction  in  allowing  the  tax  to  become  delin 
quent.  As  the  state  adopted  a  laissez-faire  policy  in  not  enforc 
ing  collection  of  delinquent  polls,  he  felt  that  this  was  a  silent 
approval  of  his  action.  Or  he  felt  that  the  state  was  at  least 
willing  to  make  a  sacrifice  to  be  rid  of  his  vote.  With  a  vig 
orous  educational  policy  on  the  part  of  the  state,  and  a  rapid 
decrease  in  illiteracy,  the  negro  may  gradually  become  more  in 
dependent  economically  and  raise  his  standard  of  citizenship. 
As  to  whether  he  will  then  gradually  come  into  possession  of 
the  ballot  must  be  left  for  future  years  to  determine. 


CHAPTER    II. 
THE  REAL  ESTATE  TAX. 

In  making  a  study  of  real  estate  we  shall  find  that  the  negro 
is  at  a  disadvantage  by  reason  of  three  forms  of  inequality  that 
exist  in  Virginia.  The  first  is  that  which  exists  between  large 
and  small  real  estate  properties,  and  holds  true  in  both  counties 
and  cities.  This  affects  the  negro  because  he  is  usually  the 
owner  of  a  small  property.  A  second  inequality  arises  from  sec 
tional  divergencies  of  assessment;  for  the  sections  where  as 
sessments  in  Virginia  are  highest  are  just  those  where  the  negro 
population  is  densest.1  A  third  inequality  is  found  in  the  un 
equal  assessment  of  white  and  negro  holdings  which  will  be  ex 
plained  later. 

The  taxing  of  negro  real  estate  is  of  chief  importance  in  the 
present  study  because  real  estate  is  the  principal  source  of  all  taxes 
paid  by  negroes.  Indeed,  it  is  of  prime  importance  in  the  state's 
fiscal  system  as  a  whole;  for,  as  was  said  in  1914  by  the  Joint 
Committee  on  Tax  Revision:  "In  Virginia  the  tax  on  land  is 
now  and  seems  likely  long  to  remain  the  basic  tax  of  any  rev 
enue  system  that  rests  upon  property  and  not  upon  income."2 
Therefore  it  is  necessary  to  notice  briefly  the  present  conditions 
of  land  ownership  in  the  state. 

Virginia  falls  in  the  category  of  those  states  which  are  pri 
marily  agricultural.  More  than  three-fourths  of  the  entire  area 
—the  total  acreage  is  approximately  25,767,680 — is  in  farms. 
There  are  one  hundred  counties  in  the  state,  and  of  these,  sev 
enty-four,  or  about  three-fourths  of  the  total  have  from  60  to 


1  See  Tables  XXIV  and  XXV  below. 

3  Report  of  the  "Joint  Committee  on  Tax  Revision,"  1914.  "In 
many  respects,"  said  the  Committee,  "the  tax  on  real  estate  is  the 
most  important  in  our  system.  It  yields  a  large  revenue,  and  we  use 
it  as  a  measure  for  adjusting  other  taxes,"  222. 

44 


THE)    TAXATION    OF    NEGROES    IN    VIRGINIA  45 

90  per  cent  of  their  land  in  farms.  In  thirteen  counties  of  the 
state,  according  to  the  last  census  report,  the  average  value  of 
land  per  acre  was  less  than  ten  dollars,  while  in  only  five  was 
the  average  greater  than  fifty  dollars.  For  the  state  as  a  whole 
the  average  was  $20.24.  Table  XII  compiled  from  census  re 
ports  is  indicative  of  the  improvement  which  took  place  in  farm 
lands  and  agriculture  from  1870  to  1910. 

TABLE  XII:  GROWTH  IN  IMPROVED  LAND  AND  AGRI- 

CULTURE.3 

1870  1880  1890 

Population    1,225,163  1,512,565  1,655,980 

No.  of  farms   73,849  118,517  127,600 

Land   in    farms 18,145,911  19,835,785  19,104,951 

Imp.  land  in  farms 8,165,040  8,510,113  9,125,545 

Acres    per    farm 245.7  167.4  149.7 

Value  per  farm $2,666  $2,088  $2,308 

Total  value  farms $196,906,040  $247,476,536  $294,488,569 

Per  cent,  of  farms  operated  by 

owners    70.5  73.1 

By  tenants    29.5  26.9 

Val.  land  and  buildings  per  acre.               $9.39  $10.89  $13.32 

TABLE  XIT    (CONTINUED) 

Per  cent  increase 

1900  1910               in  last  decade 

Population    1,854,184  2,061,612  11.2 

No.  of  farms 167,886  184,018  9.6 

Land  in  farms 19,907,883  19,495,636  -2.1 

Imp.  land  in  farms 10,094,805  9,807,058  -2.2 

Acres  per  farm 118.6  105.9  -10.7 

Value  per  farm $1,927  $3,397  76 

Total   val.   farms $323,515,977  $625,0-65,383  93.2 

Per  cent,   of  farms   oper 
ated  by  owners 69.3  73.5 

By  tenants   30.7  26.5 

Value  of  land  and  build 
ings  per  acre..- $13.64  $27.29  100 


3  S.   T   Bitting,   "Rural   Land  Ownership   Among  the   Negroes  of 

Virginia,"  16. 


46  PHEXPS-STOKES    FELLOWSHIP    PAPERS 

For  the  first  three  decades  after  1870  the  value  of  farm  prop 
erty  increased,  but  this  increase  was  small  as  compared  with 
that  from  1900  to  1910.  The  increase  during  the  last  decade 
was  nearly  ten  times  as  great  as  during  the  decade  immediately 
preceding.  In  1910  the  total  farm  property  in  the  state  was  rep 
resented  by  85.1  per  cent  in  land  and  buildings,  12  per  cent  in 
live  stock,  and  2.9  per  cent  in  implements  and  machinery.  The 
total  increase  in  the  value  of  farm  property  during  this  decade 
was  $301,549,000,  or  93.2  per  cent.  The  average  value  of  land 
and  buildings  per  acre  increased  from  $9.39  in  1870  to  $13.64  in 
1900  and  $27.29  in  1910. 

As  given  by  the  census  the  average  size  of  farms  in  Virginia 
was  105.9  acres.  This  represents  a  decrease  of  about  3.5  acres 
a  year  since  1870,  when  the  ante-bellum  plantations  were  still 
in  existence,  so  that  the  average  farm  contained  245.7  acres. 
Many  of  the  plantations  have  now  been  cut  up  and  sold,  while 
some  have  been  divided  into  several  tenant  holdings,  which  are 
counted  as  farms  and  their  operators  as  farmers.  This  is 
largely  accountable  for  the  increase  in  number  and  the  reduc 
tion  in  size  of  farms  since  1870.  The  total  number  of  farms,  as 
given  in  Table  XII,  in  1910,  was  184,018.4  The  average  value 
of  farms  was  $3,400,  of  which  about  $500  represented  the  value 
of  live  stock  and  implements  and  machinery,  and  about  $2,900 
the  value  of  land  and  buildings.  Of  the  184,018  operators 
of  farms  133,664  are  classed  as  owners  and  48,729  as  tenants. 
The  number  of  white  farmers  in  1910  was  135,904;  of  negro 
farmers  48,039. 

In  Table  XIII  is  shown  the  tenure  of  farms  for  the  census 
years  1900  and  1910,  and  the  proportion  of  owners  to  tenants 
and  managers  for  both  races. 

While  figures  are  not  available  showing  the  land  acquired  by 
negroes  during  the  Reconstruction  Period  it  may  be  said  that 
the  amount  was  relatively  very  small.  This  was  likewise  true 
of  the  poor  white  class.  It  was  not  until  after  1880  that  the  ne 
groes  began  to  secure  farms  to  any  extent.  "From  the  testi- 


4  The  number  of  farm  operators  of  course  is  the  same  as  the  num 
ber  of  farms. 


THE)    TAXATION    OF    NEGROES    IN    VIRGINIA  47 

TABLE  XIII:  TENURE  OF  FARMS.5 


Owners    .    . 

Per  cent 
All  farmers 
1900     1910 
68          72  6 

Percent 
White  farmers 
1900        1910 
71  2          74  6 

Per  cent 
Negro  farmers 
1900         1910 
59  3          67 

Managers    

13            9 

15            11 

5                4 

Tenants     

30  7      26  5 

27  3         24  3 

40  2           32  6 

mony  of  people  familiar  with  conditions  at  that  time,"  says  Mr. 
S.  T.  Bitting,  "and  from  a  few  records  derived  from  county 
books  the  tide  turned  about  1880  after  economic  conditions  had 
again  become  fairly  stable."6 

The  substantial  progress  of  the  negroes  in  acquiring  titles  to 
farms  during  the  subsequent  period  is  shown  by  the  Federal  de 
cennial  censuses  and,  since  the  later  years  of  the  nineteenth  cen 
tury,  by  the  annual  reports  of  the  state  auditor.  The  number 
of  acres  of  white  ownership  reported  to  the  auditor  for  taxa 
tion  in  1895  was  25,154,781,  while  the  amount  owned  by  ne 
groes  was  833,147.  Thus,  in  this  year  approximately  3.2  per 
cent  of  the  farming  area  of  the  state  as  assessed  for  taxes  was 
of  negro  ownership.  A  half  decade  later  the  percentage  of 
ownership  for  negroes  had  increased  but  little,  but  at  the  end 
of  the  subsequent  five  years,  or  in  1905,  negro  ownership  had 
risen  to  slightly  more  than  five  per  cent.  The  re-assessment 
of  1910  showed  a  percentage  of  6.6  and  that  of  1915,  7.4. 
These  figures  are  inaccurate,  however,  as  representing  the  ac 
quisition  of  land  from  white  owners  for  the  reason  that  the 
increase  in  negro  ownership  was  not  commensurate  with  the 
decrease  in  white  ownership,  the  latter  decrease  resulting  from 
a  correction  of  former  assessments. 

In  Tables  XIV  and  XV  may  be  found  a  comparison  of  the 
real  estate  owned  by  whites  and  negroes  since  1895. 


5  S.   T.   Bitting,   "Rural   Land   Ownership   Among  the   Negroes  of 
Virginia,"  16. 

6  Ibid.,  16. 


48 


PHEXPS-STOKES    FELLOWSHIP    PAPERS 


TABLE  XIV:  REAL  ESTATE  OWNED  BY  WHITES  AND  NEGROES 

IN  COUNTIES.? 


Uc 

rt 

en 

o 

Whites 

I 

"ctf 

*o  ** 

II 

^  PQ 

k^ 

en 
U 

O 

Negroes 
a 

be 

11 

^  PQ 

*"^> 

1895 

...    25,154,781  $113,129,317 

$153,537,517      833,147 

$3,450,247 

$5,359,401 

1900 

...   25,781,954 

119,386,584 

163,495,160      990,790 

4,134,886 

6,650,576 

1905 

.  .  .    24,241,928 

121,297,400 

172,571,459   1,292,697 

5,640,239 

9,311,772 

1910 

.  .  .   21,920,481 

140,385,897 

200,506,298  1,551,435 

8,253,048 

13,517,807 

1915 

...   21,012,354 

161,792,673 

233,124,491  1,674,823 

10,365,377 

16,919,866 

TABLE  XV:     TOWN  LOTS  OWNED  BY  WHITES  AND  NE- 

GROES.s 


Whites 


Year 

1895 63,074,643 

1900 66,675,759 

1905 78,211,180 

1910 115,166,879 

1915 123,523,840 


Value  of  Lots 

Value  of  Lots  and  Buildings 
137,771,075 
148,952,698 
179,110,758 
250,796,497 
272,932,778 


Negroes 


Value  of  Lots 
2,142,196 
2,233,122 
2,697,807 
4,186,742 
4,577,797 


Value  of  Lots 

and  Buildings 

5,400,147 

5,813,801 

7,287,380 

10,851,718 

11,855,333 


As  regards  the  value  of  land  and  buildings  the  assessment 
for  negroes  increased  from  3.9  per  cent  of  the  total  in  1900  to 
6.3  per  cent  in  1910,  but  only  to  6.8  in  1915.  Both  in  acreage 
and  assessed  values  discrepancies,  although  not  as  considera 
ble  as  a  decade  ago,  have  continued  to  exist  between  state  as 
sessments  and  estimates  by  the  census  bureau.  In  1900,  for 
example,  the  land  reported  by  the  Auditor  of  Public  Accounts 
of  white  and  negro  ownership,  was  more  than  1,000,000  acres 


7  Compiled  from  Annual  Reports  of  the  State  Auditor  of  Public  Ac 
counts. 

8  Ibid. 


THE;  TAXATION  OF  NEGROES  IN  VIRGINIA  49 

in  excess  of  the  state's  total  acreage,9  while  the  combined  area 
in  farms  was  but  19,907,883.  A  large  fraction  of  this  error 
has  been  corrected  by  the  reassessments  since  1900.  One  of 
the  most  important  reasons  for  the  variation  lay  in  the  fact 
that,  owing  to  poorly  defined  boundary  lines  and  disputed  titles 
to  portions  of  land  in  several  counties,  many  farms  were  re 
ported  too  large  and  in  some  instances  assessed  twice.  On  the 
other  hand,  it  may  be  said  in  this  connection  that  some  land 
has  been  added  to  the  state  entries  because  of  previous  omitted 
assessment.  "Indeed,"  stated  the  Joint  Committee  on  Tax  Re 
vision,  "there  is  reason  to  believe  that  considerable  parcels  and 
tracts  are  escaping  assessment  altogether,  for  in  1910  there 
were  put  on  the  books  many  thousands  of  acres  that  had  not 
previously  been  taxed,  and  we  have  no  means  of  knowing 
whether  the  assessors  found  all  that  had  been  escaping." 

The  above  conditions  have  been  quite  as  true  in  the  case  of 
negro  ownership  as  in  that  of  whites.  In  1900,  2,229,118  acres 
were  included  by  the  census  under  the  head  of  negro  farms, 
but  the  amount  filed  on  the  state's  land  books  was  only  990,790 
acres.  Nearly  half  of  this  deviation  had  been  corrected  by  the 
state  in  1910.  The  state  auditor  thinks  that  the  difference 
arises  from  the  fact  that  the  census  report  shows  the  number 
of  acres  of  land  in  possession  of  negroes;  whereas  the  land 
books  of  the  state  show  only  the  number  of  acres  deeded  to  and 
actually  owned  by  negroes. 

The  distribution  of  farms  by  size  groups  between  whites  and 
negroes  is  given  for  1910  in  Table  XVI.  Of  the  first  group, 
that  is  of  farms  containing  less  than  three  acres,  the  percentage, 
one-tenth,  was  the  same  in  1910  for  whites  and  negroes.  For 
both  races  also  there  was  a  marked  decrease  in  the  number  of 
farms  in  this  group  between  1900  and  1910.  This  fact  may 
have  resulted  from  a  different  interpretation  by  the  census  enu 
merators  as  to  what  constitutes  a  small  farm,  or  may  represent  an 
actual  decrease  in  that  type  of  farm.  Of  the  farms  operated 
by  negroes  35.5  per  cent  contained  less  than  20  acres;  while 
the  size  group  from  20  to  49  acres  constituted  34.2  per  cent. 

8  See  above,  page  44. 
—4 


50  PHEXPS-STOKES    FELLOWSHIP    PAPERS 

TABLE  XVI:     DISTRIBUTION  OF  FARMS  BY  SIZE  GROUPS 
FOR  WHITES  AND  NEGROES.io 


Under  3  acres 

Whites 
Number  of 
Farms 
.  .  .  .         183 

%  of 
Total 
1 

Negroes 
Number  of          %  of 
Farms               Total 
44                      1 

3   to    9    acres 

10  485 

7  7 

6  979                  14  5 

10  to  19  acres  . 

11  976 

8  8 

10  079                 20  9 

20  to  49  acres  

..  ..   25  959 

19  1 

16  431                  34  2 

50    to   99    acres 

29  657 

21  8 

8  685                  18  1 

100  to  174  acres. 

28  831 

21  2 

4  166                    8  7 

175   to  259   acres    . 

13  893 

10  2 

1  070                    2  2 

260    to   499    acres.. 

10  608 

7  8 

530                    1  1 

500  to  999  acres.  .  . 

3,338 

2.5 

112                       2 

1000    and    over 

974 

7 

18  L/ess  than  1% 

Thus  nearly  seven-tenths  of  the  farms  operated  by  negroes 
were  less  than  50  acres  in  size,  although  the  average  farm,  as 
was  noticed  above,  contained  46.5  acres.  The  farms  of  white 
farmers  containing  less  than  20  acres  formed  16.6  per  cent  of 
the  total,  a  much  smaller  proportion  for  farms  of  this  size  than 
in  the  case  of  negroes.  Percentages  for  the  size  groups,  20  to 
49  acres,  50  to  99,  and  100  to  174,  did  not  vary  widely  in  the 
case  of  white  farmers,  and  constituted  respectively,  19.1,  21,8, 
and  21.2. 

It  will  be  necessary  to  remember  that  the  average  number  of 
acres  in  farms  of  negro  ownership  is  much  smaller  than  that  in 
farms  of  whit#  ownership — the  former  being  46.5  in  1910  and 
the  latter  127.11  Of  improved  land  also  the  average  farm  op 
erated  by  white  farmers  contained  64.4  acres,  while  there  were 
23.1  acres  of  improved  land  in  the  average  farm  operated  by 
negroes.  Nearly  70  per  cent  of  all  farms  operated  by  negroes 
contained  less  than  50  acres  as  compared  with  35.7  per  cent 
for  whites.  The  average  value  of  land  and  buildings  per  acre 
for  white  farmers  was  $28.21  and  for  negroes  $20.21.  These 
figures,  however,  include  in  all  cases,  both  tenants,  owners, 


10  Arranged  from  Census  Report,  "Statistics  for  Virginia,"  1910,  630. 
n  Census  Report,  "Statistics  for  Virginia,"  1910,  628. 


THE    TAXATION    OF    NEGROES    IN    VIRGINIA  51 

and  managers  of  farms  and,  hence,  are  only  partially  repre 
sentative  of  land  owned  exclusively  by  negroes. 

The  foregoing  preliminary  survey  will  suffice  to  point  out  the 
progress  which  negroes  have  made  in  the  acquisition  and  man 
agement  of  farms  in  Virginia  and  to  some  extent  the  character 
of  those  farms.  Reference  to  the  preceding  chapter  and  to  the 
map  an  page  8  will  be  found  useful  as  an  aid  to  understand 
ing  the  divisions  of  the  state  according  to  population. 

The  taxes  by  which  negroes  are  most  affected  are  those  on 
real  estate,  personal  property,  and  polls.  In  the  preceding  chap 
ter  it  was  seen  that  the  capitation  tax  which  is  a  standardized 
amount  assessed  on  all  males  (with  few  exceptions)  above 
twenty-one  years  of  age,  was,  prior  to  the  adoption  of  the  pres 
ent  constitution  in  1902  somewhat  greater  in  the  percentages 
of  delinquency  for  negroes  than  for  whites,  and  since  1902,  the 
percentages  for  negroes  have  become  more  than  twice  as  great 
as  for  whites.  The  question  as  to  whether  negroes  are  con 
tributing  their  proportional  share  of  taxes  cannot  be  deter 
mined  fairly  from  the  results  ascertained  in  the  study  of  capi 
tations.  To  answer  the  question,  "Are  negroes  paying  their 
way  in  Virginia?"  one  will  need  to  compare  those  classes  of 
taxes  which  apply  equally  to  both  races  in  proportion  to  abil 
ity.  Real  estate  should  be  especially  productive  of  results  in 
this  direction  since  through  it  more  taxes  are  collected  from 
negroes  than  through  any  other  tax;  and  from  a  study  of  real 
estate  a  more  accurate  judgment  is  possible  concerning  the 
economic  importance  which  negroes  have  come  to  assume  as 
contributors  to  the  state's  annual  revenue. 

Prior  to  1891  the  annual  reports  of  the  state  auditor  do  not 
include  separately  for  whites  and  negroes  the  assessed  value 
of  real  estate  or  the  amount  of  tax  assessed  on  it.  The  gen 
eral  tax  rate  imposed  by  the  state  in  1871  was  $.50  on  the  hun 
dred  dollars  12  but  was  reduced  to  $.40  in  1881-82.13  This  rate 
as  fixed  by  the  legislature  was  continued  unchanged  until  the 
end  of  the  century. 

The  constitution  of  1867-8  provided  for  the  reassessment  of 


12  Acts   1870-1871,  274. 

13  Ibid.,  497. 


52  PHELPS-STOKES    FELLOWSHIP    PAPERS 

real  estate  once  in  five  years.14  The  General  Assembly,  how 
ever,  in  1881-2  approved  an  act  requiring  commissioners  of 
the  revenue,  whose  duty  it  had  been  to  appraise  annually  all 
personal  property,  to  list  real  estate  also,15  but,  although  it  had 
become  the  duty  of  commissioners  of  the  revenue  to  list  real 
estate,  it  was  not  in  their  province  to  assess  it  except  in  case 
of  new  improvements  or  when  land  was  found  to  have  been 
omitted  or  when  tracts  were  divided.  It  was  their  duty  to  note 
the  divisions  of  land  which  occurred  through  sale  and  otherwise 
and  to  apportion  the  tax  assessments  in  an  equitable  manner.16 
For  these  reasons  fluctuations  in  assessed  values  of  land  took 
place  in  the  interim  between  regular  assessment  periods,  and 
land  values  have  on  the  whole  steadily  advanced.  The  quin 
quennial  assessments  should  normally  show  more  decided 
changes  in  land  values  as  indicative  of  a  general  increase  or 
decrease,  while  fluctuations  in  the  years  between  may  mean  that 
values  have  rapidly  risen  in  localities  where  much  land  has 
been  divided  and  where  unusual  improvements  have  been  made. 
Years  of  excessive  prosperity  or  depression  with  the  attendant 
shifting  of  ownership  result  to  a  certain  extent  in  the  readjust 
ment  of  assessments.  In  the  case  of  white  and  negro  owner 
ship  the  acquisition  of  land  by  either  race  from  the  other  af 
fects  proportionally  the  annual  assessments  for  both  races. 
In  Tables  XVII  and  XVIII  the  annual  variations  of  assess 
ments  may  be  accounted  for  by  one  or  more  of  the  above  causes. 
These  tables  contain  the  amount  of  realty  taxes  assessed  an 
nually  on  whites  and  negroes  for  purposes  of  state  revenue — 
separate  assessments  having  been  made  for  counties  and  cities. 
The  percentage  columns  show  the  annual  increase  or  decrease. 

"The    General  Assembly   shall  provide   for   the   reassessment  of 
the  real  estate  of  this  state  in  the  year  1869,  or  as  soon  thereafter: 
provided,  in  making  such  assessments  no  land  shall  be  assessed  above 
or  below  its  value."     Constitution  of  Virginia,  Art.  X,  Sec.  6. 
16  Code  of  Virginia,  1887,  Sec.  456. 

"In  case  part  of  a  tract  or  lot  of  land  has  become  the  freehold 
of  another  between  quinquennial  assessments  and  a  title  is  recorded 
before  the  commencement  of  the  year  for  which  such  taxes  or  levies 
are  assessed,  the  property  belonging  to  the  owner  of  that  part  shall 
not  be  distrained  for  more  than  a  due  proportion  of  the  said  taxes 
or  levies."  Code  1887,  Sec.  624. 


THE  TAXATION  OF  NEGROES  IN  VIRGINIA  53 

TABLE   XVII:  INCREASE  IN  TAXES  IN   COUNTIES.i? 


Year 
1891 

Whites 
Amount    Per  Cent 
Increase 

$747  534 

Negroes 
Amount    Per  Cent 
Increase 
$22,788 
24,182       6.1 
25,437        5.2 
2-6,755       5.2 
27,717       3.2 
29,566       6.7 
30,601        3.5 
31,361       2.5 
32,231       2.8 
33,736       4.7 

1892  .  . 

751  232 

.5 
.8 
1.0 
-2.2 
-3.7 
.6 
.9 
.1 
2.2 

1893  

757  286 

1894  

764  917 

1895   . 

747  724 

1896  

.  .  .     720  047 

1&97  , 

724  206 

1898  . 

730  054 

1899  

731  004 

1900  . 

746  724 

TABLE  XVIII:  INCREASE  IN  TAXES  IN  CITIES. 


Year 
1891 

Whites 
Amount    Per  Cent 
Increase 
$396  151 

Negroes 
Amount     Per  Cent 
Increase 
$12,864 
13,505       4.9 
13,892       2.9 
14,056        1.2 
14,105        .4 
14,301        1.4 
14,330        .2 
14,400        .5 
14,278       -.9 
14,437       1.1 

1892 

417  593 

5.4 
2.2 
2.5 
5.7 
-2.3 
.6 
.8 
1.3 
1.4 

1893  . 

426  805 

1894  

437  667 

1895 

462  164 

1896 

451  874 

1897 

454  680 

1898  

458  470 

1899  

464,348 

1900 

470  934 

A  slight  increase  took  place,  for  instance,  in  white  and  negro 
assessments  between  1890  and  1894.  The  average  annual  in 
crease  in  counties  for  whites  during  this  period  was  $5,794.00, 
or  less  than  1  per  cent,  while  for  negroes  in  counties  the  av 
erage  increase  was  5.5  per  cent — an  absolute  gain  averaging 
$1,322.  Thus  while  for  negroes  the  yearly  per  cent  of  increase 
averaged  approximately  eight  times  as  much  as  for  whites  the 
average  actual  increase  for  whites  was  more  than  three  times 

17  Compiled   from    Auditor's    Reports. 


54  PHSLPS-STOKES    FELLOWSHIP    PAPERS 

as  great  as  for  negroes.  These  results  show  the  necessity  of 
considering  the  absolute  as  well  as  the  relative  figures  in  es 
timating  the  advancement  which  land  values  have  made  for 
the  two  races.  Furthermore  as  negroes  have  acquired  land 
rapidly  during  the  past  four  decades  much  of  the  increase  in 
negro  assessments  resulted  from  a  change  of  title  from  white 
to  negro  ownership — thus  diminishing  to  some  extent  white  as 
sessments.  In  fact  it  may  be  doubted  whether  the  assessments 
of  land  owned  by  negroes  made  any  substantial  increase  during 
these  years  except  that  which  occurred  through  this  means,  for 
the  financial  depression  of  1894  had  an  undoubted  effect  in 
checking  the  upward  trend  of  assessments. 

This  effect,  however,  had  its  full  demonstration  in  1895 
when  there  was  a  general  reassessment  of  land.  For  this  year 
there  was  a  falling  off  in  white  assessments  of  2.2  per  cent  and 
in  the  subsequent  year  a  further  reduction  of  3.7.  Thereafter 
assessments  again  increased,  the  greatest  gain  being  between 
1899  and  1900.  *For  negroes  there  was  a  constant  increase 
throughout  the  decade  although  the  percentage  of  increase  was 
smaller  in  the  latter  half  than  in  the  first.  The  percentage  col 
umn  for  negroes  in  cities  shows  a  decrease  in  the  latter  half 
of  the  decade.  For  whites  in  cities  taxes  increased  more 
rapidly  in  the  first  five  years,  an  actual  decrease  occurring  for 
the  year  1896.  If  assessments  are  compared  at  the  beginning 
and  end  of  the  decade  it  will  be  found  that  the  amount  in 
counties  had  not,  for  whites,  quite  reached  in  1900  what  it  was 
in  1891 ;  but  for  negroes  the  amount  in  1900  was  greater  by 
one-half  than  in  1891.  In  cities  there  was  an  increase  of  19  per 
cent  for  whites  and  12  per  cent  for  negroes. 

Delinquent  taxes  assessed  on  real  estate  became  a  lien  on 
the  property  itself  and  it  was  the  duty  of  the  treasurer  as  soon 
as  practicable  after  the  fifteenth  day  of  June  each  year  to  make 
out  a  list  of  real  estate  "delinquent  for  the  nonpayment  of 
taxes  and  levies  thereon."  18  The  clerks  of  the  courts  were 
then  to  record  and  index  in  a  book  the  list  of  real  estate  de- 
linquent.1^  The  law  provided  that:  "After  five  years  unless 

u  Code   1887,   Sec.   605. 
19  Ibid.,  Sec.  611. 


THE;  TAXATION  OF  NEGROES  IN  VIRGINIA  55 

the  taxes  are  paid,  as  much  of  such  real  estate  shall  be  sold  at 
public  auction  as  is  necessary  for  payment  of  taxes  .  .  .If 
no  sale  takes  place  such  land  is  to  be  purchased  by  the  auditor 
and  is  to  be  vested  in  him  for  the  benefit  of  the  state  and 
county,  city  and  town." 20  From  1893  to  1900  inclusive  the 
annual  percentages  of  delinquency  for  both  races  are  given  in 
Table  XIX,  counties  and  cities  being  listed  separately.21 

TABLE  XIX:  PERCENTAGES  OF  DELINQUENT  TAXES. 

Counties  Cities 

Whites         Negroes         Whites         Negroes 


1893 

60 

15  6 

7  3 

27  0 

1894  ... 

6.6 

190 

11  4 

305 

1895  

6.8 

17.0 

9.3 

31.0 

1896 

64 

19  8 

8  6 

28  4 

1897    , 

5.0 

14.9 

4.7 

23.3 

1898 

4  4 

12  7 

6  3 

20  1 

1899 

41 

11  5 

5  7 

19  3 

1900  

,  4.0 

11.4 

4.8 

18.7 

Delinquent  capitation  taxes  during  the  decade  from  1890  to 
1900  were,  as  will  be  remembered  from  the  figures  cited  in  the 
previous  chapter,  nearly  four  times  for  whites  and  three  times 
for  negroes,  greater  than  the  percentages  shown  in  Table  XIX 
for  delinquent  land  taxes.  Moreover  since  the  enforced  col 
lection  of  delinquent  capitations  was  seldom  made — notwith 
standing  the  statute  of  1896  which  rendered  such  delinquencies 
a  lien  on  real  estate — only  a  small  amount  of  the  delinquent 
taxes  was  ever  paid  in.  There  is  no  means  of  ascertaining, 
either  for  whites  and  negroes  or  in  counties  and  cities,  sepa 
rately,  the  amount  of  delinquent  taxes  on  real  property  col 
lected  by  the  state.  Figures  are  available  showing  voluntary 
payments  made,  the  amounts  collected  by  land  sales,  and  col 
lections  from  the  redemption  of  lands  the  titles  of  which  had 
become  vested  in  the  state,  but  they  make  no  distinction  of 

20  Ibid.,  Sections  636,  637,  639,  662,  663. 

21  The  Rough  Settlements  of  the  State  Auditor's  office  do  not  con 
tain  complete  reports  of  delinquent  land  taxes  separately  for  whites 
and  negroes  before  1893. 


56  PHEXPS-STOKES    FtXLOWSHIP    PAPERS 

race  or  locality.  They  indicate,  however,  that  a  much  greater 
percentage  of  delinquent  real  estate  taxes  was  collected  during 
the  decade  than  of  delinquent  capitation  taxes. 

The  total  amount  of  delinquent  real  estate  taxes  reported 
for  1895  was  $103,352,  while  in  this  year  the  total  amount  of 
delinquent  taxes  collected  for  previous  years  was  $57,582.  Of 
this  total  $26,300  was  collected  before  and  after  the  sale  of 
lands  to  others  than  the  commonwealth,  and  $31,282  from  the 
redemption  of  land  acquired  by  the  state.  The  delinquent  real 
estate  taxes  collected  in  1900  for  previous  years  were  $98,111, 
an  amount  notably  greater  than  in  1895  and  very  much  in  ex 
cess  of  the  delinquent  taxes  reported  in  1900.  It  may  be  as 
serted  then  that  during  the  decade  the  delinquent  taxes  annually 
collected  amounted  to  a  large  proportion  of  those  previously 
reported,  owing  to  a  marked  decrease  in  delinquencies  during 
the  latter  part  of  the  period. 

Inasmuch  as  the  yearly  percentages  of  delinquency  for  ne 
groes  were  much  in  excess  of  similar  percentages  reported  for 
whites  the  assumption  is  warranted  that,  proportionally,  more 
land  of  negro  ownership  was  allowed  to  be  sold  for  the  pay 
ment  of  taxes,  both  to  the  state  and  to  others,  than  land  of 
white  ownership.  In  the  case  of  whites  in  counties  the  per 
centages  of  delinquency  remained  fairly  steady  from  1893  to 
1897,  sharply  declining  for  the  remainder  of  the  decade.  Per 
centages  for  negroes  in  counties  were  from  two  and  one-half  to 
three  times  as  great  as  for  whites.  The  financial  disturbances 
between  1893  and  1896  appear  to  have  caused  a  direct  increase  in 
the  non-payment  of  real  estate  taxes  by  negroes  in  both  coun 
ties  and  cities.  There  was  a  noticeable  increase  in  delinquen 
cies  for  whites  in  cities  during  the  same  years,  a  more  normal 
condition  resulting  for  both  races  in  1897.  For  both  races  also, 
and  in  the  country  and  city  alike,  the  percentages  of  delin 
quency  rapidly  decreased  in  the  last  three  years  of  the  decade. 
Although  delinquencies  in  real  estate  taxes  for  whites  were 
barely  greater  in  cities  than  in  counties  it  is  a  striking  fact  that 
for  negroes  they  were  almost  twice  as  great  in  cities. 

There  are  two  reasons   for  the   fact  that  in  counties  delin 
quencies  run  much  higher  for  negroes  than  for    whites.     The 


THE    TAXATION    OF    NEGROES    IN    VIRGINIA  57 

first  of  these  is  the  small  value  of  negro  holdings  and  the  con 
sequently  low  assessments,  and  the  second,  the  difficulty  of  col 
lecting  the  taxes.  In  Table  XVII  of  the  present  chapter  it  was 
seen  that  according  to  the  census  distribution  of  1910  there 
were  in  the  entire  state  only  44  farms  of  negro  ownership 
which  were  under  three  acres  in  size.  This  fact  however  seems 
due  to  a  purely  arbitrary  classification  by  the  census  enumerat 
ors.  For  example,  in  the  Rivanna  district  of  Albemarle  county 
— in  which  the  percentage  of  negro  population  is  but  32.4 — the 
commissioner  of  the  revenue  in  the  year  1916  listed  more  than 
44  tracts  containing  less  than  three  acres  each.22  Thus  in  pro 
portion  to  the  total  number  for  each  race,  as  has  been  noted 
above,  there  are  more  holdings  of  small  value  for  negroes  than 
for  whites.  On  many  of  these  the  taxes  assessed  are  exceed 
ingly  small,  frequently  amounting  to  less  than  $1  and  some 
times  to  as  little  as  $0.15. 

The  cost  of  collecting  an  unpaid  tax  of  such  small  amount 
is  greater  than  the  tax  itself.  This  will  be  evident  from  a  fuller 
explanation  of  the  procedure  which  governs  the  treasurer  in 
making  collections.  Taxes  may  be  paid  annually  on  or  after 
the  first  day  of  July  for  the  current  year  and,  prior  to  Decem 
ber  first,  are  payable  at  any  time  to  the  treasurer,  whose  office 
is  at  the  county  seat.23  For  the  sake  of  convenience,  however, 
this  official  either  in  person  or  by  deputy,  visits  on  appointed 
days  a  convenient  place  in  every  district  of  the  county  and  re 
ceives  taxes.24  A  penalty  of  five  per  cent  is  added  to  all  taxes 
which  have  not  been  paid  by  the  first  of  December.25  After 
December  first  the  treasurer  is  required  to  "call  upon  each  per 
son  charged  with  taxes  and  levies  who  has  not  paid  the  same 
prior  to  that  time."  26  A  special  collector  is  appointed  to  find 
the  owners  of  properties  past  due  for  taxes  and  if  possible  to 
make  collections.  Any  visible  personal  property  may  be  levied 


22  Land  books  of  the  Commissioners  of  the  Revenue  in  the  treas 
urer's  office  of  Albemarle  county. 

23  Acts  1878-9,  323;  1897-8,  25,  671;   Pollard  Code,  1904,  Sec.  603. 

24  Pollard  Code  1904,  Sec.  603. 

25  Ibid. 

26  Ibid. 


58  PHIXPS-STOKES    FELLOWSHIP    PAPERS 

on  for  the  amount  of  the  taxes.  Although  the  law  requires 
the  collector  to  make  but  one  visit  to  a  land  holder  he  is  usually 
authorized  to  make  two  or  more  trips — especially  when  there 
are  taxes  of  large  amount  in  arrears.  All  taxes  which  have  not 
been  paid  by  June  1st  are  returned  "delinquent."  The  treas 
urer  then  compiles  a  list  of  delinquencies  and  at  the  session  of 
the  circuit  court  of  the  succeeding  January  the  lands  on  this 
list  are  put  up  for  sale  to  the  highest  bidder — in  compliance 
with  existing  laws.27 

Theoretically  the  officer  who  is  deputized  as  special  collector 
is  obligated  in  the  same  degree  to  collect  unpaid  taxes  from  all 
persons,  regardless  of  race  or  the  amount  of  the  tax  ticket. 
Since,  however,  the  percentage  of  land  holdings  of  small  value 
is  greater  in  the  case  of  negro  ownership  than  in  that  of  white 
ownership  the  percentage  of  holdings  returned  delinquent  is 
likewise  greater  for  negroes.  For  example,  a  negro  whose  real 
estate  taxes  amount  to  perhaps  fifty  cents  may  live  in  a  remote 
part  of  his  magisterial  district.  The  special  collector  on  his 
visit  finds  the  owner  of  the  property  absent — as  is  the  rule 
rather  than  the  exception — employed  perhaps  as  a  railway  la 
borer  or  miner  and  with  no  immediate  prospect  of  return. 
There  are  many  negro  landlords  of  small  real  estate  proper 
ties  who  are  periodically  absent  for  several  months  each  year. 
If  found  at  home  the  negro  cannot  pay  but  promises  to  have 
the  amount  at  a  later  date.  There  is  no  personal  property  on 
which  the  officer  can  levy  and  the  tax  is  returned  delinquent. 
At  the  delinquent  land  sale  the  negro's  property  is  not  pur 
chased  most  likely  either  because  of  its  undesirability  or  de 
fective  title.  From  year  to  year  the  taxes  on  numerous  hold 
ings  of  this  sort  are  returned  delinquent — due  in  large  measure 
to  the  fact  that  the  time  and  cost  involved  in  collection  amount 
to  more  than  the  taxes.  To  sum  up,  therefore,  the  taxes  as 
sessed  on  many  negro  farms  of  small  value,  even  if  collected, 
would  hardly  justify  the  time  and  cost  expended  and  hence  go 
to  swell  the  delinquent  percentage  column. 

In  cities  the  percentage  of  delinquent  taxes  on  real  estate  for 

27  Pollard  Code  1904,  Sec.  637. 


THE)    TAXATION    OF    NEGROES    IN    VIRGINIA  59 

negroes  averages  about  one  and  three-fourths  times  as  much  as 
in  counties.  The  causes  which  were  found  explanatory  of  con 
ditions  in  counties  do  not,  however,  explain  the  excessive 
amount  of  delinquencies  in  cities.  Here  one  must  rather  look 
for  a  general  reason  in  the  economic  complexity  of  modern  city 
life.  The  kinds  of  urban  employment  in  which  negroes  are 
most  generally  engaged  are  peculiarly  subject  to  each  rise  and 
depression  in  business  prosperity.  Wages  are  unstable,  and 
there  is  a  constant  shifting  of  positions.  Thus  the  marginal 
labor  line  as  it  moves  upward  or  downward  may  make  or  un 
make  the  fortune  of  a  large  class  of  negroes  who  are  struggling 
to  pay  for  a  home. 

The  negro's  general  improvidence  is  a  trait  of  character 
which  can  not  be  ignored.  It  is  a  strong  determinant  factor 
of  his  present  economic  condition  and  must  be  recognized  by 
every  student  of  the  race  problem.  The  country  condones 
shiftlessness  and  ignorance  in  the  negro  to  a  greater  extent 
than  does  the  city.  In  other  words  the  negro  has  not  yet 
learned  to  adjust  himself  to  the  conditions  of  city  life.  Here 
business  is  conducted  more  scientifically  and  methodically  than 
in  the  country;  transactions  are  made  to  a  much  larger  extent 
on  a  cash  basis.  Suppose,  for  instance,  that  a  negro  runs  an 
account  in  a  country  store.  When  the  time  for  settlement 
comes  the  merchant  will,  if  the  negro  is  not  able  to  pay  the 
debt,  carry  it  for  an  indefinite  time  on  his  books.  The  prac 
tise  in  the  city  is  quite  different.  Trustworthy  negroes  may 
buy  goods  on  credit  for  short  periods,  but  when  the  date  of 
payment  arrives  lack  'of  foresight  is  not  tolerated  and  no  pains 
are  spared  to  collect  the  debt.  The  ability  to  look  ahead,  and 
to  provide  for  future  wants — a  quality  as  yet  poorly  enough 
developed  in  the  negro  at  best — is  thwarted  in  the  city  by  the 
multiform  avenues  of  spending.  Gradually  no  doubt  he  is  ad 
justing  himself  to  city  business  methods,  but  his  inability  at 
present  to  fit  himself  into  the  scheme  of  things  must  be  consid 
ered  as  a  reason  in  part  for  his  failure  to  pay  taxes  and  meet 
other  obligations. 

Only  in  rare  instances  do  negroes  who  buy  real  estate  in 
cities  pay  for  it  except  by  installments.  Various  agreements  are 


60  PHEXPS-STOKES    FELLOWSHIP    PAPERS 

made  whereby  a  stipulated  payment  is  deducted  from  the  la 
borer's  weekly  or  monthly  wages,  or  he  is  himself  required  to 
deduct  the  amount  of  the  installment.  The  result  is,  that  with 
the  intervention  of  unforeseen  circumstances,  and  through  a 
miscalculation  of  his  ability  to  meet  various  obligations,  the 
purchaser  is  unable  to  discharge  his  tax  bill.  Store  debts  and 
the  installments  on  a  lot  or  home  which  must  be  discharged  to 
prevent  the  loss  of  previous  payments  loom  up  with  greater 
immediate  signfiicance  than  the  tax  item. 

Note  a  typical  case.  A  is  a  negro  who  drives  a  delivery 
wagon,  thereby  earning  $10  a  week.  He  found  that  by  careful 
saving  it  was  possible  for  him  to  lay  by  $1.50  of  his  weekly 
wages,  or  approximately  $72  a  year.  He  started  a  small  sav 
ings  account  and  after  accumulating  a  few  months'  surplus 
bought  a  lot  for  which  he  made  a  small  cash  payment,  leaving 
the  remainder  to  be  paid  weekly  or  monthly.  It  was  a  vacant 
lot  on  which  he  intended  eventually  to  build  a  house.  He  set 
himself  the  difficult  task  of  paying  in  installments  an  amount 
which  required  a  number  of  years  to  be  discharged  in  full. 
Meanwhile  the  real  estate  dealer  held  a  lien  on  A.'s  property 
and  when  the  latter  failed  to  meet  the  requirements  of  the 
contract  he  lost  what  payments  he  had  made  and  his  lot  re 
verted  to  the  dealer.  It  is  easy  to  grasp  the  significance  of  A's 
undertaking  and  the  disastrous  results  attending  it.  For  va 
rious  reasons  any  working  man  may  be  temporarily  thrown 
out  of  employment,  and  strenuous  times  follow  when  he  will 
be  forced  to  accept  lower  wages  or  seek  work  in  another  city. 
Having  put  the  installments  at  a  maximum  figure  when  his 
wages  were  good,  he  finds  it  impossible  to  meet  all  obligations 
when  his  circumstances  are  worse.  Meanwhile  his  taxes — 
though  a  small  item — have  been  put  off  from  time  to  time  and 
returned  delinquent.  His  poll-tax  since  1896  has  likewise  be 
come  a  lien  on  his  real  estate  and  clouded  the  title.28  More 
over,  it  must  be  remembered  that  in  cities  there  is  a  consid 
erable  body  of  negro  transients  which  is  continually  fluctuat 
ing  as  employment  becomes  scarce  or  plentiful.  Many  a  ne- 

28  See  chapter  I,  page  22. 


THE    TAXATION    OF    NEGROES    IN    VIRGINIA  61 

gro  goes  to  town,  gets  a  job,  thinks  he  is  settled  for  life,  and 
begins  to  pay  for  a  lot,  only  to  move  on  in  a  few  months.  "The 
main  reason  for  the  non-payment  of  the  tax  in  question,"  says 
the  treasurer  of  one  of  the  state's  largest  cities,  "is  that  ne 
groes  buy  a  vacant  lot,  expecting  to  build  on  it,  afterwards 
find  that  they  can  not,  and  quit  paying,  move  away,  etc."  29 
It  may  be  said,  however,  that  since  1900  negro  real  estate  tax 
delinquency  has  slightly  diminished. 

Although  the  present  constitution  adopted  in  1902  made  far- 
reaching  changes  in  the  capitation  tax  it  left  the  tax  on  real 
estate  practically  unaltered  except  to  lower  the  rate.30  This 
was  reduced  from  forty  to  thirty-five  cents  on  the  hundred 
dollars  with  an  added  proviso  making  it  incumbent  on  the  Gen 
eral  Assembly  to  prescribe  the  rate  after  the  first  day  of  Jan- 


s  The  list  of  delinquent  properties  as  first  made  out  is  later  reported  to 
the  court  under  four  divisions :  Redeemed  before  sale,  sold  to  individuals, 
sold  to  the  commonwealth,  heretofore  sold  to  the  commonwealth.  (Pol 
lard  Code  1904,  Sec.  642a.)  The  reason  for  delinquency  in  the  first  division 
according  to  the  treasurer  of  another  of  the  state's  largest  cities, 
is  that,  "the  title  is  generally  clear  and  the  owner  prefers  to  wait 
until  the  last  moment,  with  some  few  exceptions  where  there  has 
been  an  oversight  or  a  life  tenant.  In  cases  of  sales  to  individuals, 
this  grows  out  of  carelessness,  neglect,  ignorance  in  trusting  to  oth 
ers,  or  a  lack  of  attention,  or  perhaps  in  a  few  cases  an  oversight. 
In  cases  of  sales  to  the  commonwealth,  the  title  is  very  often  de 
fective.  The  individual  buyer  is  afraid  of  it  and  year  after  year  this 
same  property  is  reported  as  delinquent  and  later  as  having  been 
heretofore  sold  to  the  commonwealth. 

"It  is  sometimes  found  that  property  on  the  land  books  dating 
back  as  far  as  1873  does  not  exist  and  this  develops  when  an  indi 
vidual  purchaser  has  gone  into  the  title  and  he  at  once  petitions  the 
court  to  refund  the  purchase  money.  We  also  have  known  that 
there  is  a  certain  class  of  negroes  who  are  more  or  less  careless 
about  making  wills  and  if  they  die  without  a  will  leaving  heirs  they 
will  go  on  enjoying  the  use  of  the  property,  however  small,  with 
out  ever  thinking  of  a  distribution,  never  agreeing  among  them 
selves,  and  so  the  property  goes  delinquent." 

30  Indirectly  it  paved  the  way  for  radical  changes  through  the 
adoption  in  1915  of  a  segregation  system  of  taxation.  For  a  com 
plete  discussion  of  the  changes  recently  made  see  Thomas  Walker 
Page:  "The  Movement  for  Tax  Reform  in  Virginia,"  published  in 
the  Journal  of  Political  Economy,  October,  1916. 


62 


PHEXPS-STOKES    FELLOWSHIP    PAPERS 


uary  1907.31  The  constitution  did  not  specify  either  a  maxi 
mum  or  minimum  rate  for  localities  on  tangible  personal 
property  and  real  estate.  The  state  rate  was  unchanged  until 
a  system  of  partial  tax  segregation  was  adopted  in  191 5. 32 
Under  this  system  all  taxes  collected  from  real  estate  and  per 
sonal  property  were  segregated  to  localities  save  a  tax  of  10 
mills  on  the  dollar,  to  be  applied  exclusively  for  public  school 
use.33 

TABLE  XX:  AMOUNT  OF  STATE  TAXES  LEVIED  ON  REAL 
ESTATE  IN  COUNTIES.34 


Year 
1901  . 

Whi 

Amount 
$759718 

tes 
Increase 
Per  Cent 
3.2 
.5 
-9.9 
1.2 
1.7 
7.5 
.1 
2.3 
1.1 
3.2 
19.3 
1.7 
1.2 
.7 

Negroes 
Increase 
Amount    Per  Cent 
$37,193      10.0 
38,463        3.4 
35,312      -8.2 
37,218        5.4 
38,623        3.8 
44,671       15.7 
45,159        1.1 
45,596        .9 
47,433        4.0 
48,824        2.7 
59,494       21.9 
60,668        .2 
62,104        .2 
63,479        .2 

1902  

763  869 

1903 

687  018 

1904  . 

695  741 

1905  ... 

707  885 

1906  

760,961 

1907 

761  745 

1908  . 

77'9  184 

1909  

787  499 

1910  

812,903 

1911  . 

969  720 

1912  

986  522 

1913  

998614 

1914  . 

1  006-588 

31  Constitution   of  Virginia,   Sec.   189. 

32  Acts  1908,  19. 

33  Extra   Session,  Acts   of  Assembly,   1915,   119. 

34  It  has   been   thought   best   to  omit   Buchanan   county   from    the 
column  of  assessments  for  whites  in  counties  in  order  to  obtain  more 
accurate    percentages.      Concerning   this    county    the    Auditor    speaks 
as  follows:     "The  taxes  for  1911  on  real  estate  improperly  assessed, 
therefore  not   collectable,  were  $8,772.84,  which  is  .0047  per  cent  of 
the  amount  assessed  and  the  amount  of  taxes  for  1911  -    -  returned 
delinquent  on  real  estate  were  $92,554.12  which  is  .05  per  cent  of  the 
amount  assessed.     $30,660.66  of  this  $92,554.12  was  delinquent  in  one 
county,  viz:     Buchanan,  where  large  tracts  of  land  having  no  actual 
existence  are  assessed,  therefore  the  taxes  are  returned  delinquent." 


THE    TAXATION    OF    NEGROES    IN    VIRGINIA  63 

TABLE  XXI:     AMOUNT  OF  STATE  TAXES  LEVIED  ON 
REAL  ESTATE  IN  CITIES. 


Year 
1901 

Wl 
Amount 
$473  560 

lite 
%  Increase 
.5 
2.2 
-10.3 
1.6 
2.4 
11.7 
6.5 
3.9 
3.3 
3.3 
23.8 
8.1 
3.5 
2.0 

Negroes 
Amount   %  Increase 
$14,172      -1.8 
14,650       3.4 
13,278       -9.4 
13,754       3.6 
14,362       4.4 
15,948       11.0 
18,185       14.0 
19,419        6.8 
20,931       7.8 
21,530       2.9 
28,489      32.3 
29,077       2.1 
29,048       0.0 
29,766       2.5 

1902  

483  988 

1903  

433  962 

1904  

440  894 

3905  ..  .  . 

451  529 

1906  

504  509 

3907 

537  443 

1908  

558  173 

]  909  

575  666 

1910  . 

594  852 

1911  

736  311 

1912 

769  312 

1913  

823  341 

3914 

807  128 

Tables  XX  and  XXI  carry  the  annual  increase  in  taxes  from 
1900  to  1914.  With  the  exception  of  a  single  year,  1903,  the 
columns  of  percentages  show  a  general  increase  in  counties  for 
both  races.  The  results  for  this  year,  however,  form  only  an 
apparent  exception  since  the  existing  rate  of  forty  cents  on  the 
$100  was  reduced  to  thirty-five.  Had  the  rate  not  been  reduced 
12^2  per  cent  there  would  have  been  a  normal  increase  for  this 
year  also.  The  years  1901,  1906,  and  1911 — or  those  immedi 
ately  following  the  regular  quinquennial  assessments — show  the 
greatest  increases,  and  this  fact  is  also  true  for  cities  in  1906 
and  1911.  It  is  not  true  for  the  latter  in  1901 — the  amount  for 
whites  in  that  year  remaining  practically  unchanged  and  an  ac 
tual  increase  occurring  for  negroes.  For  whites  there  is  a  more 
rapid  increase  in  cities  than  in  counties ;  similarly  for  negroes 
the  rate  is  greater  in  cities,  but  not  in  as  large  ratio  as  for 
whites.  The  changes  which  occur  between  quinquennial  assess 
ments  represent  an  increase  of  buildings  and  improvements. 
Commissioners  of  the  revenue  make  assessments  on  all  new  im 
provements  made  between  quinquennial  years;  but  neither  for 
the  state  nor  for  the  races  are  the  variations  regular. 


64  PHEXPS-STOKES    FELLOWSHIP    PAPERS 

TABLE  XXII:  PERCENTAGES  OF  DELINQUENCY. 

Counties  Cities 

Whites     Negroes     Whites     Negroes 


1901  

2.9 

7.8 

4.1 

15.2 

1902  

2.8 

11.1 

4.4 

13.6 

1903  

2.9 

12.1 

4.2 

15.3 

1904  

3.7 

11.9 

4.2 

15.6 

1905  

2.6 

11.4 

2.9 

9.5 

1906  

2.7 

11.0 

3.1 

12.6 

1907  

3.1 

12.6 

3.5 

14.5 

1908  

3.0 

12.3 

3.4 

13.4 

1909  

2.9 

12.9 

3.0 

11.9 

1910  '  

2.6 

10.7 

2.9 

12.0 

1011  

2.6 

10.1 

2.8 

10.7 

1912  

2.9 

9.8 

2.9 

14.0 

1913  

2.8 

9.1 

3.0 

14.4 

1914  

2.9 

9.5 

3.0 

13.3 

A  glance  backward  at  Table  XIX,  the  calculations  of  which 
are  continued  in  Table  XXII,  will  reveal  the  fact  that  for 
whites  the  percentage  of  taxes  annually  returned  delinquent 
has  averaged  barely  half  as  much  since  1900  as  in  the  years 
from  1893  to  1897.  This  is  true  both  of  counties  and  cities.  It 
is  equivalent  to  saying,  moreover,  that  the  increase  took  place 
wholly  within  the  period  from  1893  to  1900  and  that  the  delin 
quency  has  shown  practically  no  tendency  to  decline  since  1900 
in  either  division.  In  other  words  although  the  assessments 
have  increased  rapidly,  insuring  a  rise  in  taxes,  there  have  since 
1900  been  scarcely  any  fluctuations  in  the  proportion  returned 
delinquent.  It  would  seem,  therefore,  that  with.no  change  ei 
ther  in  the  ratio  of  assessments  to  true  value,  or  in  the  rate  of 
taxation,  the  percentages  of  delinquency  for  whites  tended  to 
remain  at  a  fixed  level.  It  might  have  been  expected  that  the 
percentages  returned  delinquent  for  whites  in  cities  should  have 
exceeded  similar  returns  in  counties,  but  since  1904  the  figures 
have  been  almost  identical. 

The  above  generalizations  in  the  case  of  white  delinquencies 
hold  true  in  the  main  for  negroes,  although  there  are  some  im 
portant  differences.  Thus  there  was  a  swift  decrease  in  delin- 


THE;  TAXATION  OF  NEGROES  IN  VIRGINIA  65 

quency  for  negroes  from  1893  to  1900;  but  unlike  those  for 
whites  the  figures  for  negroes  have  continued  to  decrease  slightly 
since  1900.  Also,  unlike  the  case  with  whites  there  has  contin 
ued  to  be  since  1900  larger  delinquency  among  negroes  in  cities 
than  in  counties.  There  are,  finally,  more  frequent  and  more 
pronounced  variations  from  year  to  year  in  the  columns  for  ne 
groes  than  in  those  for  whites. 

Once  again  it  must  be  remembered  that  the  figures  given  in 
Table  XXII  are  not  as  significant  as  in  the  case  of  capitation 
delinquencies.  For  some  of  the  taxes  allowed  to  be  returned 
delinquent  are  paid  between  the  date  for  making  out  the  lists  and 
the  time  appointed  for  offering  the  property  for  sale.  This  fact 
apparently  is  especially  applicable  to  negroes  in  some  of  the 
larger  cities.  The  percentages  for  negroes  in  Table  XXII  av 
erage  from  three  to  four  times  greater  than  for  whites,  and  yet, 
if  annually  the  taxes  returned  delinquent  for  negroes  but  "re 
deemed  before  sale"  are  subtracted  from  the  total  amount  due, 
the  percentages  of  delinquency  will  be  notably  diminished.  If 
the  amount  of  delinquent  taxes  collected  each  year  is  compared 
with  the  amount  returned  delinquent  the  difference  is  found  to 
be  of  not  much  importance.  In  1910,  for  example,  the  total 
amount  returned  delinquent  for  both  races  was  $50,819,  but  the 
total  collected  from  the  amount  returned  delinquent  for  the 
previous  year,  which  was  redeemed  before  sale,  was  $22,106. 
The  delinquency  for  negroes  in  this  year  was  $7,825,  or  15.4% 
of  $50,819,  the  total  for  whites  and  negroes.  Hence  the  propor 
tional  part  of  $22,106  for  negroes  was  a  little  more  than  $3,000, 
and  by  subtracting  this  from  the  total  amount  for  negroes — 
$7,825 — we  find  this  total  reduced  by  approximately  two-fifths. 
This  is,  of  course,  a  mere  assumption;  but  it  is  one  which  we 
are  justified  in  accepting,  and  it  reduces  the  percentages  for  ne 
groes  in  Table  XXII  so  much  as  to  lend  an  entirely  different 
color  to  negro  delinquencies.  The  negro  as  a  payer  of  real  es 
tate  taxes — the  largest  with  which  he  is  assessed — returns  but 
a  comparatively  small  amount  permanently  delinquent.  This  is 
a  fact  hardly  anticipated  from  the  study  of  capitations.  Nine 
teen  and  ten  was  by  no  means  an  exceptional  year  and  the  above 


66  PH£LPS-STOKES    FELLOWSHIP    PAPERS 

figures  constitute  a  fair  average  of  delinquent  taxes  collected 
annually  before  the  sale  of  land  takes  place. 

Table  XXIII  contains  percentages  of  delinquency  for  negroes 

TABLE    XXIII:      PERCENTAGES    OF    DELINQUENCY    FOR 

NEGROES  IN  DIVISIONS  OF  THE  STATE  GROUPED 

ACCORDING  TO  NEGRO  POPULATION. 

%  Delin.  Land     %  Delin.  Capitations 
1900          1910  1900          1910 


Less   than   12^2%   pop  

10.6 

9.0 

53.4 

60.1 

12l/2    to   25%   pop  

9.0 

9.3 

45.5 

60.3 

25    to    37^%    pop  

10.5 

7.5 

47.5 

73.5 

37^    to    50%    pop..  

....      15.9 

19.6 

61.6 

68.4 

50  to   62^%   pop  

14.9 

8.6 

37.8 

53.3 

Above  Q2y2%  pop  

7.5 

9.4 

26.8 

66.9 

State    

13.6 

11.1 

47.7 

63.9 

in  six  divisions  of  the  state,  grouped  according  to  the  distribu 
tion  of  population  in  1900  and  1910.  The  total  negro  popula 
tion  was  reduced  from  35.6  per  cent  at  the  beginning  of  the  dec 
ade  to  32.6  at  its  close,  and  consequently  there  were  some 
counties  and  cities  which  were  classified  in  a  lower  percentage 
division  in  1910.  For  counties  in  which  cities  are  located  the 
percentage  of  combined  population  was  taken  as  a  criterion  and 
both  were  placed  in  the  corresponding  division.  To  illustrate, 
the  combined  negro  population  of  Henrico  county  and  Richmond 
city  was  39.1  per  cent  in  1900,  and  they  were  included  in  the  di 
vision  "37l/2  to  50  per  cent."  In  1910  this  county  and  city  were 
brought  within  the  group  division  "25  to  37^  per  cent"  as  their 
combined  negro  population  had  decreased  to  35.5  per  cent. 

Percentages  of  delinquency  in  1900  did  not  vary  greatly  for  the 
three  group  divisions  containing  less  than  37^2  per  cent  population 
and  were  less  in  each  group  than  the  state's  total  delinquency. 
The  fourth  and  fifth  divisions  contain  the  highest  percentages 
for  this  year  while  the  sixth  division — that  in  which  the  propor 
tion  of  negro  population  was  more  than  62^2  per  cent — had  the 
least  delinquency  of  all.  In  1910  the  total  delinquency  for  the  state 
decreased  to  11.1  per  cent.  In  only  one  division  for  this  year  was 
this  total  exceeded,  that  being  for  the  classification  "37^  to  50  per 


THE)    TAXATION    OF    NEGROES    IN    VIRGINIA  67 

cent."  Two  or  three  counties  in  which  the  delinquencies 
amounted  to  almost  half  the  assessments  were  responsible  for 
the  unusually  large  percentage  in  this  division. 

There  has  been  a  marked  contrast  since  1900  in  the  matter  of 
delinquent  capitation  and  real  estate  taxes.  The  tendency  to 
delinquency  in  negro  capitations  has  been  one  of  constant  in 
crease,  while  the  reverse  is  true  for  the  latter. 

In  the  preceding  pages  of  this  study  we  have  been  concerned 
primarily  with  the  amount  of  real  estate  taxes  with  which  ne 
groes  have  been  assessed,  the  rapid  growth  of  these  assessments 
since  1890,  the  proportion  allowed  to  become  delinquent  in  both 
counties  and  cities  and  a  comparison  of  these  percentages  with 
white  delinquencies.  We  have  also  investigated  the  reasons  un 
derlying  the  percentages  of  taxes  returned  delinquent  for  ne 
groes.  In  seeking  to  discover  whether  they  are  paying  real  es 
tate  taxes  in  porportion  to  their  ability  we  have  found  that  a 
somewhat  higher  per  cent  of  their  taxes  are  returned  delinquent 
each  year  than  in  the  case  of  whites,  and  the  amount  of  delin 
quencies  for  negroes  themselves  is  greater  in  cities  than  in  coun 
ties.  At  the  same  time  a  good  part  of  the  taxes  returned  delin 
quent  is  redeemed  before  sale  of  the  property  takes  place  and 
some  is  collected  subsequently  for  an  indefinite  number  of  years. 
The  percentages  worked  out  in  Tables  XIX  and  XXII  there 
fore  cannot  be  taken  as  accurately  expressive  of  the  taxes  on 
real  estate  which  continue  permanently  delinquent. 

To  determine  whether  negroes  are  paying  taxes  in  proportion 
to  their  ability  it  is  necessary  to  know  whether  their  property  is 
assessed  in  a  fair  and  equitable  manner.  It  is  not  unusual  to 
think  of  the  negro,  financially,  as  constituting  one  of  the  South's 
most  staggering  burdens.  Without  undertaking  to  consider  the 
elements  of  this  burden,  as,  e.  g.,  expenditures  for  education, 
costs  of  maintaining  criminal  and  charitable  institutions,  etc.,  is 
it  possible  to  ascertain  for  Virginia  whether  negroes  are  sharing 
the  state's  burden  of  taxation  in  proportion  to  their  ability?  It 
is  imperative  to  know,  if  we  may  formulate  an  answer  to  such 
a  query,  not  only  the  amount  of  taxes  delinquent  for  negroes  as 
compared  with  whites,  but  also  the  ratio  of  assessments  to  true 
property  values  for  negroes  as  compared  with  a  like  ratio  for 
whites. 


68  PHEXPS-STOKES    FELLOWSHIP    PAPERS 

Regardless  of  what  may  or  may  not  be  the  best  method  of 
assessing  real  estate  Virginia  has  not  formally  veered  from  the 
policy  of  estimating  both  realty  and  tangible  personal  property 
on  a  basis  of  "fair  market  value."  The  constitution  of  1867-8 
was  careful  to  provide  that  no  land  should  be  assessed  "above 
or  below  its  value."  35  "Except  as  hereinafter  provided,"  reads 
the  constitution  of  1901-02,  "all  assessments  of  real  estate  and 
tangible  personal  property  shall  be  at  their  fair  market  value,  to 
be  ascertained  as  prescribed  by  law."  36  Reassessment  of  land 
was  provided  for  every  five  years.37 

Land  assessors  are  appointed  every  five  years,  on  or  before 
the  first  day  of  January  of  the  year  for  which  they  are  to  make 
assessments.  They  receive  appointments  by  the  circuit  court  in 
the  counties  and  by  the  corporation  or  hustings  court  in  the 
cities.  Cities  having  a  population  of  more  than  15,000  have  two 
assessors — except  the  city  of  Richmond  which  has  three.  The 
number  in  counties  is  the  same  as  that  of  commissioners  of  the 
revenue.38  The  latter  officials  vary  in  number  from  one  in 
some  counties  to  two,  three,  or  as  many  as  six  in  others,  no 
county  having  more  than  one  for  each  magisterial  district.39 
The  duties  of  assessors  may  be  summarized  as  follows:  "The 
assessors  shall,  immediately  after  their  appointment,  proceed  to 
examine  all  the  lands  and  lots  assessable  by  them,  with  the  im 
provements  thereon,  within  their  respective  counties,  districts, 
and  corporations,  and  shall,  upon  examination,  ascertain  and  as 
sess  the  fair  market  value  thereof,  and  at  the  same  time  shall 
note  whether  the  owner  is  white  or  colored."  40  On  all  divisions 
of  land  which  take  place  between  quinquennial  assessment 
years,  commissioners  of  the  revenue  apportion  the  assessments 
among  the  owners  after  the  division  is  made.  Also,  it  is  the 
duty  of  commissioners  to  assess  all  improvements  made  during 
the  intervening  years. 


35  See  footnote  15. 

38  Constitution  of  1901-02,  Sec.   169. 

07  Ibid.,  Sec.  171. 

38  Acts  of  Assembly  1884,  113;   1902-3-4,  610. 

39  Pollard  Code  1904,  Sec.  448. 

40  Acts  1884,  114. 


THE    TAXATION    OF    NEGROES    IN    VIRGINIA  69 

The  latitude  for  inequalities  of  assessment  under  such  a  sys 
tem  is  truly  immense  and  the  evils  have  been  familiar  enough 
throughout  the  state.  Before  1900  much  discontent  had  arisen 
because  of  a  widespread  feeling  that  taxes  were  unequally  dis 
tributed.  Demands  became  more  insistent  that  the  inequalities 
existing  both  among  localities  and  among  the  various  classes  of 
taxpayers  be  corrected.  The  Constitutional  Convention  of 
1901-2,  recognizing  the  need  of  reform,  made  it  constitutionally 
possible,  after  a  lapse  of  ten  years,  for  the  legislature  to  enact  a 
segregation  system  of  taxation.41  As  a  consequence,  at  the  ex 
piration  of  this  period  the  legislature  assumed  the  problem  of 
tax  adjustments.  At  the  biennial  session  of  1912  it  defeated  a 
bill  creating  a  permanent  state  tax  commission,  and  at  the  fol 
lowing  session,  yielding  to  a  petition  from  various  influences, 
postponed  all  consideration  of  tax  revision  until  in  special  ses 
sion  in  1915.  This  postponement  was  effected  in  order  to  pro 
vide  for  study  of  the  situation  by  a  special  tax  commission  which 
consisted  of  ten  members — three  from  the  senate,  four  from  the 
house,  and  three  citizens  to  be  appointed  by  the  governor.42 
This  joint  committee  on  tax  revision  completed  its  report  and 
presented  it  to  the  governor  on  Nov.  1,  1914.  In  the  chapter  on 
real  estate  the  committee  found  the  chief  defects,  as  it  said,  "in 
the  appraisal  of  real  estate."  It  characterized  undervaluation 
as  being  "practically  universal."  And  yet,  said  the  committee, 
"this  would  not  be  so  serious  if  the  degree  of  undervaluation 
were  known  and  were  everywhere  the  same;  but  this  is  notori 
ously  not  true.  Real  estate  in  some  counties  is  assessed  at  more 
than  fifty  per  cent  of  its  selling  value;  in  other  counties  at  less 
than  twenty  per  cent.  .  .  .  And  not  only  does  underval 
uation  vary  in  degree  from  county  to  county  and  from  city  to 
city,  for  within  the  limits  of  the  localities  inequalities  are  even 
more  gross  and  unjust.  It  thus  happens  that  some  citizens  of 
Virginia  are  paying  in  taxes  many  times  more  than  other  citi 
zens  on  lands  of  the  same  value."  43  Thus  facts  which  the  state 


41  Constitution  of  1901-2,  Sec.  169. 

42  See  Thos.  W.  Page,  "The  Movement  for  Tax  Reform  in  Virginia," 
Journal  of  Political  Economy,  October,  1916. 

43  "Report  of  the  Joint  Committee  on  Tax  Revision,"  8. 


70  PHEXPS-STOKES    FELLOWSHIP    PAPERS 

had  felt  for  two  decades  to  be  true  were  now  verified  by  care 
ful  investigation. 

In  order  to  ascertain  the  degree  of  undervaluation  the  com 
mittee  procured  a  list  of  all  the  recorded  sales  of  real  estate  in 
Virginia  during  the  year  beginning  February  1,  1912,  and  end 
ing  January  31,  1913,  the  year  that  is  midway  between  the  last 
preceding  and  the  next  approaching  assessment.  Of  the  results 
obtained  from  the  sales  of  this  year  the  committee  said:  "It  is 
proper  for  us  to  say  that  we  do  not  regard  the  ratio  of  assess 
ments  to  selling  prices  as  an  infallible  indication  of  the  degree 
of  undervaluation.  The  appraisal  of  all  real  estate  cannot  be 
made  merely  by  a  study  of  sales  in  any  community.  The  work 
of  the  assessor,  as  explained  below,  is  by  no  means  so  simple. 
It  should  be  remembered  in  studying  our  tables  that  many  sales 
are  induced  by  exceptionally  high  offers,  and  would  not  occur 
at  all  at  the  'fair  market  value.'  It  is  true,  on  the  other  hand, 
that  some  sales  are  made  under  necessity  at  prices  below  the 
value  of  the  property,  but  sales  of  this  class  are  less  numerous 
than  the  others.  Therefore,  the  real  degree  of  undervaluation 
of  all  the  real  estate  in  any  county  or  city  is  without  doubt  some 
what  less  than  the  ratios  in  our  tables  indicate.  For  making 
comparisons,  however,  of  assessments  in  one  locality  with  those 
of  another,  we  regard  the  tables  as  entirely  trustworthy,  since 
the  same  motives  for  selling  at  any  price  at  all  would  apply 
broadly  in  all  our  counties  and  cities. 

"For  obvious  reasons  many  of  the  sales  threw  no  light  on  the 
true  value  of  the  property.  Some  were  mere  trading  transac 
tions  ;  others  were  clearly  shown  on  the  face  of  the  record  to  be 
arranged  among  relatives  so  that  other  considerations  than 
money  were  likely  to  be  involved.  Such  transactions  were  elim 
inated  from  our  list,  as  they  were  apt  to  be  misleading.  There 
were  likewise  excluded  all  sales  made  by  commissioners  and 
other  officers  of  the  court,  sales  to  public  service  corporations 
and  sales  to  the  government  whether  federal,  state  or  local. 
Our  purpose  was  to  include  only  fair  voluntary  transactions, 
made  after  reasonable  advertisement,  where  the  seller  was  un 
der  no  compulsion  to  sell  and  the  buyer  under  no  compulsion  to 
buy.  We  frankly  admit  that  motives  not  strictly  economic  may, 


THE    TAXATION    OF    NEGROES    IN    VIRGINIA  71 

without  our  knowledge,  have  affected  the  price  paid  in  many  of 
the  sales  retained  in  our  list,  but  we  are  convinced  that  such 
motives  would  weigh  as  much  on  one  side  as  on  the  other,  and 
that  would  not  appreciably  affect  the  average  for  the  state  as  a 
whole,  or  for  any  county  or  city.  Our  final  list  thus  purged  of 
doubtful  transactions,  contained  16,362  sales  in  the  counties, 
and  4,431  in  the  cities."  44 

By  making  a  comparison  of  assessments  with  prices  actually 
paid  in  bona  fide  sales,  the  committee  found  that  the  average 
assessment  of  real  estate  for  the  hundred  counties  of  Virginia 
is  33.5  per  cent  of  "its  fair  market  value."  For  the  cities  the 
average  assessment  is  53  per  cent.  "In  every  county  and  city," 
the  committee  further  said,  "we  found  wide  differences  in  the 
the  ratio  of  assessment  to  selling  price  among  individual  own 
ers.  Some  properties  were  assessed  at  a  very  high  rate,  a  few 
were  above  their  selling  price;  others  on  the  contrary,  were 
sometimes  assessed  in  the  same  neighborhood  at  less  than  ten 
per  cent  of  what  they  sold  for."  45 

The  committee  grouped  the  number  of  sales  obtained  for 
counties  in  six  divisions,  according  to  the  amount  of  the  selling 
price,  and  computed  the  ratio  of  total  assessment  to  total  selling 
price  for  each  division.  The  results  for  counties  are  tabulated 
in  Table  XXIV  and  in  Table  XXV  for  cities. 

TABLE  XXIV:    RATIO  OF  ASSESSMENT  TO  SELLING  PRICE 

ON  LARGE  AND  SMALL  PROPERTIES 

IN  COUNTIES.46 


Val.  of  Prop. 
Total 

No.  Sales  Tot.  Assess. 
16  362         $7  929  415 

Tot.  Sell.  Price  Ratio 
$23  666  730         33  5 

Under  $500 

7  683               718  187 

1  536  634         46  7 

$500-$!  000         

2965               776978 

1  992  607         39  0 

$1  000-$2  500    

3,219           1,791904 

4924387         364 

$2  500-$5  000 

1  574           1  714  282 

5  241  605         32  7 

$5  0'00~$10  000 

635           1  285  946 

4  127  999         31  1 

Over  $10  000    

286           1  642  118 

5  843  498         28  1 

44  "Report  of  the  Joint  Committee  on  Tax  Revision,"  9. 

45  Ibid.,  9. 

46  "Report  of  the  Joint  Committee  on  Tax  Revision,"  10. 


72  PHELPS-STOKES    FELLOWSHIP    PAPERS 

TABLE  XXV:    RATIO  OF  ASSESSMENT  TO  SELLING  PRICE 

ON  LARGE  AND  SMALL  PROPERTIES 

IN  CITIES. 


Val.  of  Prop. 
Total            

No.  Sales 
4,431 

Tot.  Assess. 
$6,475,430 

Tot.  Sell.  Price 
$12,215,456 

Ratio 
53.1 

Under  $500 

921 

143,974 

241,443 

59.8 

$500-$!  000 

835 

335,129 

575,904 

58.2 

*1  000-$2  500 

1280 

1  173  217 

2  080  856 

56.5 

$2  500-$5  000        .... 

......           856 

1,555,122 

2,776  501 

56.0 

$5  0'00-$10  000    

361 

1,263,713 

2,383,685 

53.0 

Over  $10  000 

....           178 

2,004  275 

4  157  067 

482 

Two  facts  stand  out  prominently  in  the  foregoing  tables. 
First,  the  average  small  country  tract  is  assessed  at  nearly  half 
its  true  value,  while  the  average  country  estate  of  ten  thousand 
dollars  and  upward  is  assessed  at  a  little  more  than  a  fourth  of 
its  value.  The  average  owner  of  the  large  estate  pays  in  taxes 
only  about  one-half  as  much  in  proportion  to  its  worth  as  the 
average  owner  of  the  small  property.  "Out  of  the  widespread 
abuse  of  unequal  valuation,"  declared  the  Tax  Committee, 
"many  serious  evils  arise.  The  most  obvious  is  that  some  land 
owners  are  making  in  proportion  to  their  ability  much  larger 
payments  to  the  government  than  are  others.  A  peculiarly 
striking  feature  of  this  evil  is  that  the  chief  sufferers  from  it 
are  the  smaller  land  owners.  The  true  value  of  their  small  and 
little-improved  holdings  is  much  easier  to  ascertain  than  is  that 
of  the  rich  man's  large  estate.  The  poor  man,  furthermore,  us 
ually  has  for  his  protection  little  influence,  either  personal  or 
political.  Finally,  the  poor  man  is  ignorant  of  the  means  of 
correcting  an  unfair  assessment  or  finds  that  he  cannot  afford 
it;  he  is  usually  ignorant  even  that  the  assessment  is  unfair, 
since  in  this  state  no  way  is  provided  for  him  to  find  it  out.  He 
therefore  pays  the. tax  the  government  demands  without  know 
ing  that  in  proportion  to  the  value  of  his  land  he  is  sometimes 
paying  five  or  ten  times  as  much  as  his  rich  neighbor."  47 

The  second  important  fact,  which  is  equally  as  obvious  as  the 

47  "Report  of  the  Joint  Committee  on  Tax  Revision,"  10. 


THE;  TAXATION  OF  NEGROES  IN  VIRGINIA  73 

first,  is  the  relatively  higher  assessment — that  is,  as  compared 
with  the  selling  price — of  real  estate  in  cities  than  in  counties. 
In  cities  the  total  assessment  is  53.1  per  cent  of  the  total  selling 
price ;  in  counties  it  is  33.5  per  cent.  One  notices  that  in  cities 
also  there  was  a  greater  ratio  of  assessment  to  selling  price  for 
small  properties  than  for  large,  but  this  difference  is  less  accen 
tuated  than  in  counties. 

The  following  paragraph  by  a  member  of  the  Committee  on 
Tax  Revision  is  an  excellent  summary  of  the  conditions  which 
that  body  found  to  obtain  for  the  state : 

"The  combined  rate  of  all  taxes  was  $1.49  on  the  assessed 
value,  and  only  58  cents  on  the  true  value  of  real  estate.  On 
the  whole,  therefore,  taxes  were  low,  and  the  majority  of  the 
landowners  in  the  state  had  no  valid  cause  of  complaint.  But 
there  was  a  minority  that  labored  under  a  very  real  grievance ; 
for,  by  reason  of  unequal  assessments,  a  few  were  paying  far 
more,  while  some  paid  much  less,  than  the  average.  Fourteen 
counties  showed  an  assessment  of  less  than  25  per  cent,  and 
nine  of  more  than  50  per  cent,  of  true  value.  In  the  cities  as 
sessments  varied  between  45  per  cent  in  Winchester  and  76.5 
per  cent  in  Fredericksburg.  In  the  country  small  properties 
were  assessed  on  the  average  20  per  cent  higher  than  large  prop 
erties  in  the  same  locality;  in  the  cities  there  was  a  similar  dis 
crepancy,  though  it  was  not  so  great.  Now,  the  state  tax  was 
uniform  on  the  assessed  value  of  all  taxable  property  at  the  rate 
of  35  cents  on  the  $100.  As  a  result  it  was  shown  that  for 
every  dollar  paid  to  the  state  by  the  owner  of  a  small  property 
in  a  certain  county  with  a  high  assessment,  there  was  a  payment 
of  only  four  cents  by  the  owner  of  a  large  estate  in  another 
county  with  a  low  assessment.  This  particular  discrimination, 
it  is  true,  was  more  burdensome  in  appearance  than  reality,  be 
cause  undervaluation  prevailed  everywhere,  and  the  amount  ac 
tually  collected  by  the  state  was  not  great  even  from  the  most 
highly  assessed  lands.  But  with  local  taxes  it  was  harder  to 
bear,  since  the  rate  of  these  was  never  less  than  twice  as  high, 
and  was  sometimes  eight  times  as  high,  as  the  state  rate.  The 
higher  the  local  rate,  the  greater  was  the  real  hardship  imposed 
by  inequalities.  Nor  was  there  any  provision  whatsoever  in  the 


74  PHELPS-STOKES    FELLOWSHIP    PAPERS 

state  for  adjusting  unequal  assessments.  Even  in  case  of  actual 
overvaluation  the  only  recourse  of  an  aggrieved  owner  was  a 
costly  and  tedious  appeal  to  the  courts."  48  It  will  be  seen  that 
the  inequalities  just  described  affect  the  real  estate  owned  by 
negroes  as  well  as  whites. 

The  final  list  of  recorded  sales  which  the  Committee  on  Tax 
Revision  procured  included  transactions  made  by  both  white 
and  colored  persons.  And  while  the  sales  for  negroes  are  in 
cluded  in  the  calculations  of  the  report,  there  was  no  need  for 
the  committee's  purpose,  to  tabulate  the  sales  for  whites  and 
negroes  separately.  Consequently,  while  the  report  contains 
the  sales  made  by  both  races,  it  has  no  comparisons  by  which  it 
may  be  judged  whether  discriminations  are  made  in  the  assess 
ment  of  real  estate  owned  by  whites  and  negroes.  Fortunately, 
however,  in  collecting  the  list  of  sales,  the  committee  required 
to  be  indicated  on  the  cards  compiled  for  each  individual  trans 
action  whether  the  sale  was  made  by  a  white  person  or  negro. 
At  the  completion  of  the  report  the  cards  thus  collected  were 
deposited  in  the  State  Library.  It  has,  therefore,  been  possible 
to  ascertain  separately  for  whites  and  negroes  the  results  which 
were  combined  in  the  report  of  the  committee. 

Of  the  16,362  sales  obtained  for  the  counties,  2,083  were  made 
by  negroes.  There  were  4,431  sales  made  in  cities,  and  negroes 
were  represented  by  332  of  these.  Table  XXIV  above  contains 
for  all  the  counties  of  the  state,  the  ratio  of  assessments  to  sell 
ing  price  on  large  and  small  properties.  In  Table  XXVI  this  is 
shown  for  whites  and  negroes  separately. 

The  most  significant  fact  immediately  apparent  in  Table 
XXVI  is  the  large  difference  for  whites  and  negroes  in  the  ra 
tio  of  assessment  to  selling  price.  In  the  case  of  whites  the  to 
tal  assessment  in  counties  is  33.1  per  cent  of  the  selling  price; 
for  negroes  it  is  45.3  per  cent.  The  combined  total  ratio  is  33.5 
per  cent,  or  only  four-tenths  of  one  per  cent  higher  than  the  ra 
tio  for  whites  alone.  The  total  assessment  on  the  sales  included 
for  negroes  in  counties  is  much  smaller  than  for  whites.  Thus 


48  Thomas  Walker  Page,  "The  Movement  for  Tax  Reform  in  Vir 
ginia,"  Journal  of  Political  Economy,  October,  1916. 


THE    TAXATION    OF    NEGROES    IN    VIRGINIA  75 

TABLE  XXVI:    RATIO  OF  ASSESSMENT  TO  SELLING  PRICE 
IN  COUNTIES.49 


Whites 

Val.  of  Prop. 

No.  Sales  Assessment 

Selling  Price 

Ratio 

Total   White    

.  .  .      14,279         $7,582,659 

$22,900,715 

33.1 

Under  $500  

6,047              574,467 

1,273,804 

44.9 

$500-$999    

2,688              691,245 

1,815,703 

38.1 

$l,000-$2,499    

3,083           1,715,237 

4,723,881 

36.4 

$2,500-$4,999    

1,549           1,689,219 

5,168,578 

32.8 

$5,000-$9,999    

626           1,270,373 

4,075,251 

31.2 

$10,000  and  over  

286           1,642,118 

5,843,498 

28.1 

Negroes 

Total  for  Negroes  

2,083         $    346,756 

$      766,015 

45.3 

Under  $500   

1,636               143,720 

262,830 

54.5 

$500-$999    

277                 85,733 

176,904 

48.4 

$l,000-$2,499    

136                76,667 

200,506 

38.3 

$2,500-$4,999    

25                 25,063 

73,027 

34.3 

$5,000-$9,999    

9                 15,573 

52,748 

29.5 

$10,000  and  over  

...               0                          0 

0 

0 

Total  W.  &  N  

,  ,      16,362           7,929,415 

23,666,730 

33.5 

while  $346,756  was  the  total  assessment  for  property  sold  by 
negroes,  that  sold  by  whites  was  assessed  at  more  than 
$7,000,000.  Similarly  the  sales  of  negro  property  totalled 
$766,015;  of  white  property  nearly  $23,000,000.  Hence,  al 
though  the  ratio  of  assessment  to  selling  price  for  negroes  is 
12.2  higher  than  for  whites,  the  combined  total  is  raised  but 
four-tenths  of  one  per  cent  above  the  total  for  whites.  Not  only 
is  the  ratio  of  assessment  to  true  value  for  negroes  much  greater 
than  that  for  whites,  but  the  ratio  for  every  property  division 
except  one  is  likewise  greater  for  negroes.  In  the  case  of  sales 
amounting  to  less  than  $500  each  it  was  10  higher  for  ne 
groes;  and  for  sales  of  more  than  $500  but  less  than  $1,000 
the  difference  was  approximately  the  same.  In  the  remaining 
classifications  the  assessment  rate  for  negroes  diminished  rap 
idly  and  was  less  than  that  for  whites  in  the  division  of  $5,000 


49  Compiled  from  sales  recorded  and  deposited  in  the  State  Library 
by  the  Joint  Committee  on  Tax  Revision. 


76  PHELPS-STOKES    FELLOWSHIP    PAPERS 

to  $10,000.  In  this  division  the  assessment  of  negro  property 
had  declined  to  29.5  per  cent  of  the  market  value  while  that  for 
whites  stood  at  31.2.  It  will  be  noted  that  no  sales  amounting 
to  $10,000  or  more  were  made  for  negroes. 

The  above  results   for  counties  are  very  similar  to  those  in 
Table  XXVII  for  cities. 

TABLE  XXVII:     RATIO   OF  ASSESSMENT  TO   SELLING 
PRICE  IN  CITIES.so 


Val.  of  Prop. 
Total  White     

Whites 
No.  Sales  Assessment 
4,099          $6,328,786 

Selling  Price 
$11,965,263 

Ratio 
52.9 

Under  $500 

772               120  679 

206  235 

58.5 

$500-$999 

.  .  .  .           730              290,406 

502,586 

57.8 

$1  000-$2  499         

1,217           1,123,755 

1,989,716 

56.5 

$2  500-$4  999 

842            1  529  908 

2  732  974 

56.0 

$5  000-$9  999 

360            1  259  763 

2  376  685 

53.0 

$10.000  and  over... 

178           2.004.275 

4.157.067 

48.2 

Negroes 


Total  for  Negroes  

332 

$    146,644 

$      250,193 

58.7 

Under    $500    

149 

23,295 

35,208 

ee.a 

$500-$999    

105 

44,723 

73,318 

61.2 

$l,000-$2,499    

63 

49,462 

91,140 

54.4 

$2,500-$4,999    

14 

25,214 

43,527 

58.0 

$5,000-$9,999    

1 

3,950 

7,000 

56.4 

$10,000   and   over  

0 

0 

0 

0 

Total  W.  &  N  

4,431 

6,475,430 

12,215,456 

53.1 

The  assessment  rates  for  cities  are  much  higher  than  for 
counties.  Hence,  although  in  all  of  the  sale  divisions,  except 
one,  the  ratios  of  assessment  to  selling  price  are  greater  for 
negroes  than  in  the  corresponding  division  for  whites,  the  dif 
ference  in  ratios  is  not  so  pronounced  as  in  counties.  In  the 
total  values  of  urban  property  for  the  two  races  the  ratio  is 
52.9  for  whites  and  58.7  for  negroes.  The  combined  total 
ratio  is  53.1.  For  sales  amounting  to  less  than  $500  each  the 

50  Compiled  from  sales  recorded  and  deposited  in  the  State  Library 
by  the  Joint  Committee  on  Tax  Revision. 


THE;  TAXATION  OF  NEGROES  IN  VIRGINIA  77 

ratio  for  negroes  exceeded  that  for  whites  by  7.7,  and  in  the 
next  higher  division  the  difference  was  3.4.  There  is  a  higher 
ratio  for  whites,  on  the  other  hand,  in  the  division  which  in 
cluded  sales  made  between  $1,000  and  $2,500.  This  is  the 
single  exception,  for  in  the  following  groups  the  ratios  were 
again  higher  for  negroes.  No  sales  amounting  to  $10,000  or 
more  were  recorded  for  the  latter. 

It  is  evident  that  the  assessment,  as  compared  with  the  fair 
market  value  of  real  estate,  averages  higher  for  negroes  than 
for  whites.  This  is  a  condition  found  to  be  true  for  both 
counties  and  cities.  Furthermore,  since  real  estate  of  small 
value  is  assessed  at  a  higher  rate  than  tracts  of  larger  size  and 
value;  and  since  the  greatest  difference  in  the  ratios  for  whites 
and  negroes  is  found  in  the  case  of  properties  of  small  value  the 
latter  race  fares  unequally.  As  land  holdings  increase  in  size 
the  difference  in  ratios  for  the  two  races  diminishes  until  for 
large  estates  it  practically  disappears.  Obviously  then,  since 
the  majority  of  negro  real  estate  holdings  are  small,  the  bulk 
of  negro  property  is  being  assessed  at  a  markedly  higher  per 
centage  of  its  true  value  than  is  white  property  and  it  becomes 
peculiarly  important  to  inquire  into  the  cause  of  this  discrimi 
nation. 

When  a  negro  buys  property  from  a  white  owner,  other 
things  being  equal,  he  must  usually  pay  more  for  it  than  would 
a  white  purchaser.51  This  is  especially  true  whenever  the 
community  in  which  the  property  lies  is  inhabited  predomi 
nantly  by  white  citizens.  The  purchase  by  a  negro  of  real  es 
tate  in  such  a  community  is  apt  to  cause  a  general  deprecia 
tion  of  values  there.  Tracts  of  land,  or  lots,  lying  in  close 
proximity  to  the  parcel  of  real  estate  bought  by  a  negro  are  not 
as  valuable  as  they  were  previously.  To  some  extent,  mere 
race  prejudice,  but  to  a  larger  extent  other  factors,  cause  this 
depreciation.  Handicapped  as  he  usually  is  by  lack  of  capital 
and  scientific  training,  the  negro  cannot  maintain  and  improve 


51  This  proposition  of  course  is  applicable  only  in  the  case  of  vol 
untary  transactions,  but  it  will  be  remembered  that  the  Committee 
on  Tax  Revision  discarded  all  sales  which  were  not  made  voluntarily. 


78  PHEXPS-STOKES    FELLOWSHIP    PAPERS 

his  property  as  he  should,  and  all  too  frequently  it  is  allowed  to 
become  dilapidated.  This  tendency  is  promoted  by  his  lack 
of  persistence  and  nomadic  propensities.  Real  estate  of  what 
ever  sort  is  likely  to  be  less  productive  in  his  possession  than 
in  the  hands  of  his  white  neighbor.  Habits  of  thriftlessness, 
ignorance  of  social  responsibilities,  and  a  lack  of  foresight  pre 
vent  him  from  utilizing  his  resources  to  the  best  advantage. 
And  while  he  does  not  make  the  necessary  improvements  on 
his  property  he  also  fails  to  give  it  the  attractive  appearance 
that  he  should.  As  a  result,  his  land  either  absolutely  sinks  in 
value  or  at  least  fails  to  show  the  same  increment  of  value  that 
it  would  in  white  possession.  Thus,  while  the  negro  is  not 
commonly  regarded  as  a  desirable  purchaser,  on  the  other  hand, 
if  he  desires  to  sell  his  lot  or  farm  he  is  usually  unable  to  ob 
tain  as  much  for  it  as  can  a  white  owner,  or  a  price  that  is 
equivalent  to  its  productive  capacity.  He  will  seldom  find  a 
negro  buyer  who  can  give  him  a  price  amounting  to  the  real 
value  of  his  property,  unless  the  terms  of  payment  cover  a 
long  period  of  installments.  Because  of  the  undesirable  loca 
tion,  of  a  hesitancy  in  succeeding  the  negro  occupant,  or  for 
some  other  reason,  he  will  not  be  offered  as  much  by  a  white 
person  as  a  white  owner  would  be.  The  negro  thus  appears 
to  be  handicapped  in  both  the  purchase  and  sale  of  real  estate. 
The  above  facts  serve  to  explain  the  disproportionate  ratios 
of  assessment  to  selling  price  on  negro  property.  Assessors 
and  commissioners  of  the  revenue,  in  making  new  assess 
ments,  are  necessarily  influenced  by  the  productive  capacity  of 
property.  It  is  difficult  for  them  to  take  note  of  the  real  but 
formally  unrecognized  depreciation  which  may  have  occurred 
merely  from  negro  ownership.  Consequently,  a  parcel  of  real 
estate  owned  by  a  negro  is  assessed  by  the  same  standards  as 
if  owned  by  a  white  man.  No  allowance  is  made  for  the  de 
crease  in  selling  value  due  to  negro  ownership.  To  illustrate, 
let  us  suppose  that  two  parcels  of  real  estate  in  the  same  com 
munity  have,  as  nearly  as  is  possible  to  ascertain,  the  same 
productive  value.  One  of  them  is  owned  by  a  negro,  the  other 
by  a  white  person.  If  put  up  for  fair  voluntary  sale  the  ne 
gro's  land,  or  lot  as  the  case  may  be,  will  not  bring  as  much 


THE    TAXATION    OF    NEGROES    IN    VIRGINIA  79 

as  the  white  man's,  but  in  appraising  the  properties  for  taxation 
assessors  do  not  allow  for  such  discrepancy.  The  result  is, 
that  in  Tables  XXVI  and  XXVII  ratios  are  higher  for  negroes 
than  whites,  especially  on  small  holdings.  And  we  have  al 
ready  seen  that  a  majority  of  negro  taxpayers  own  small  hold 
ings. 

It  is  true  also,  that  higher  assessments  on  negro  property  of 
small  value  prevail  for  city  and  town  lots  just  as  in  the  case 
of  farm  lands  and  farms.  The  conditions  described  above  and 
the  influences  enumerated  to  show  why  inequalities  of  assess 
ment  occur,  have  as  potent  an  application  to  urban  real  estate 
as  to  rural  sections.  Assessments  are  rather  better  in  cities  and 
the  discrepancy  between  actual  and  assessed  values  is  not  as 
large  as  for  country  property;  but  a  difference  in  ratios  for 
whites  and  negroes  obtains  for  both  counties  and  cities. 

Thus  it  appears  that  in  proportion  to  the  market  value  of 
their  property  negroes  are  paying  relatively  more  taxes  in  Vir 
ginia  than  are  whites.  If,  however,  the  taxes  are  compared 
with  the  income-bringing  possibilities  of  the  property  instead 
of  the  market  value,  race  discrepancy  is  not  so  apparent. 


CHAPTER    III. 

PERSONAL  PROPERTY  AND  INCOME  TAXES. 

Personal  property  has  constituted  an  important  part  of  Vir 
ginia's  tax  system  during  her  whole  history  and  the  state  still 
derives  about  ten  per  cent  of  its  annual  revenue  from  this 
source.  Under  the  tax  laws  which  have  existed  since  the  adop 
tion  of  the  constitution  of  1867-8,  personal  property  has  been 
classified  as  "Schedules  B  and  C"— "Schedule  B"  including  all 
tangible  property  and  "Schedule  C"  representing  choses  in  ac 
tion  or  intangible  personalty.  On  both  classifications  a  rate  of 
forty  cents  on  the  hundred  dollars  was  levied  as  the  state's 
share  during  the  period  between  1881-2  and  the  new  constitu 
tion  of  1901-2.1  The  latter  constitution  fixed  the  maximum 
state  rate  at  thirty-five  cents  on  tangible  property,  until  the  year 
1907,  thus  leaving  the  rate  on  "Schedule  C"  to  be  fixed  by  the 
legislature.2  This  body,  however,  placed  a  similar  rate  on 
intangible  property  and  did  not  alter  the  rate  on  either  class 
until  1912.3 

The  Committee  on  Tax  Revision  of  1914  referred  to  intan 
gible  property  as  commonly  applying  to  "monies,  credits,  and 
those  rights,  claims  and  privileges  that  pass  into  private  own 
ership  and  have  a  commercial  value."  4  Little  property  of  this 
kind  existed  when  the  state's  tax  laws  were  in  process  of 
formation.  Tangible  property,  on  the  other  hand,  was  of  much 
importance,  and  the  laws  passed  were  more  especially  applica 
ble  to  "Schedule  B."  But  though  nominally  a  distinction  was 
made  in  the  two  classes  of  personal  property,  the  same  laws 
applied  to  both.  Toward  the  close  of  the  century,  however, 
there  was  a  rapid  increase  in  intangible  property.  The  report 

1  Code  1887,  Sec.  577. 

2  Constitution  of  1901-2,  Sec.   189. 

3  The  present  discussion  extends  only  to  the  enactment  of  the  re 
cent  tax  laws  in  1915. 

4  Report  1914,  49. 

80 


THE    TAXATION    OF    NEGROES    IN    VIRGINIA  81 

of  the  State  Auditor  for  the  year  1887,  the  first  year  in  which 
a  separate  report  was  made  for  the  two  classes  of  personal 
property,  showed  the  amount  of  choses  in  action  assessed  to 
be  $38,476,076.  It  had  thus  assumed  a  place  nearly  equal  in 
importance  to  tangible  property,  the  assessed  value  of  the  latter 
amounting  to  $43,397,887  for  the  same  year. 

Not  until  1891  were  the  taxes  levied  on  personal  property 
reported  separately  for  whites  and  negroes.  The  report  for 
this  year,  however,  and  for  the  period  between  1891  and  1902, 
inclusive,  does  not  divide  the  taxes  on  tangible  and  intangible 
property.  Table  XXVIII  contains  the  taxes  levied  on  both 
classes  during  this  period. 

TABLE  XXVIII:    TAXES  ON  PERSONAL  PROPERTY  IN 
COUNTIES  AND  CITIES. 


Year 
1891 

Cou 
Whites 
$251  154 

nties 
Negroes 
$10,645 
11,489 
11,856 
11,234 
10>,945 
11,107 
10,629 
10,920 
11,319 
12,919 
13,297 
22,435 

Cities 
Whites 
$123,292 
122,892 
121,783 
111,303 
110,699 
113,124 
165,678 
140,013 
148,042 
145,900 
156,806 
164,369 

Negroes 
$1,873 
2,023 
2,114 
1,836 
1,882 
1,988 
1,935 
1,896 
1,989 
2,037 
2,245 
2,402 

1892 

247  607 

1893  

240  209 

1894  

222,744 

1895 

209  570 

1896  

251  637 

1897  

232,616 

1898 

248  068 

1899  

249  613 

3900  

268,939 

1901 

297  053 

1902  

262  924 

From  1891  to  1902  the  taxes  levied  on  negro  personal  prop 
erty  varied  from  about  4  to  5  per  cent  of  the  amount  levied  on 
white  property.  During  the  same  period  the  proportion  of 
taxes  on  negro  real  estate  varied  from  3  to  5  per  cent  of  the 
amount  levied  on  real  estate  of  white  ownership.5  Thus  it 
would  seem  that  in  counties  the  personal  property  owned  by 
negroes  formed  about  the  same  per  cent  of  the  amount  owned 
by  whites  as  did  real  estate.  In  cities  a  like  comparison  does 


5  See  Table  XVII. 


82  PHEXPS-STOKES    FELLOWSHIP    PAPERS 

not  hold.  Whereas  the  taxes  on  city  real  estate  of  negro  own 
ership  approximated  3  per  cent  of  the  amount  for  whites,  the 
personal  property  taxes  averaged  only  1.5  per  cent  of  the  levy 
for  whites. 

As  in  the  case  of  real  estate  there  was  no  significant  growth 
in  the  taxes  on  white  personal  property  in  counties,  though  the 
assessments  vary  considerably  from  year  to  year.  There  was 
a  steady  falling  off  between  1891  and  1896,  for  which  the  fi 
nancial  depression  and  fall  in  values  which  occurred  during 
these  years  were  doubtless  largely  responsible.  During  the  re 
mainder  of  the  period  the  amounts  were  irregular.  Until  18% 
there  was  a  consistent  decline  in  the  personalty  taxes  on  whites 
in  cities,  but  for  the  twelve  years  as  .a  whole  there  was  an  im 
portant  increase.  Neither  in  counties  nor  cities  did  the  taxes 
on  negro  property  show  such  fluctuations.  With  the  exception 
of  a  single  year  in  counties  the  taxes  on  negro  personalty  re 
mained  stationary.  In  this  respect  personal  property  of  negro 
ownership  compares  rather  unfavorably  with  negro  real  estate 
for  the  same  period.6  In  Tables  XXIX  and  XXX  may  be 
found  the  taxes  levied  on  tangible  and  intangible  property  re 
spectively  from  1903  to  1914. 

TABLE  XXIX:    TANGIBLE  PERSONAL    PROPERTY   TAXES. 


Year 
1903 

Cou 
Whites 
$134  352 

nties 
Negroes 
$14,0'54 
15,060 
16,075 
17,957 
18,514 
20,069 
20,524 
22,294 
22,272 
23,018 
24,845 
25,906 

Cities 
Whites 
$32,663 
33,190 
41,630 
49,064 
53,881 
61,677 
63,998 
70,082 
78,658 
75,112 
85,750 
94,572 

Negroes 
$2,132 
2,070 
2,180 
2,577 
3,205 
3,293 
3,683 
3,822 
4,439 
4,566 
4,844 
5,049 

1904  ...  . 

143  583 

1905  

148  598 

1906 

160  4051 

1907  

170  950 

1908  

184  665 

1  909 

190  746 

1910   . 

203  755 

1911  

202  335 

]912 

210  614 

1913   . 

245  572 

1914  

254,507 

6  See  Tables  XX  and  XXI. 


THE;  TAXATION  OF  NEGROES  IN  VIRGINIA         .       83 
TABLE  XXX:  INTANGIBLE  PERSONAL  PROPERTY  TAXES. 


Year 
1903 

Coun 
Whites 
$112  88-9 

ties 
Negroes 
$209 
340 
310 
379 
490 
482 
626 
490 
543 
546 
797 
366 

Cities 
Whites 
$117,032 
113,047 
10<6,115 
117,114 
142,642 
139,511 
148,979 
160,229 
175,791 
186,368 
216,417 
231,291 

Negroes 
$  87 
185 
146 
158 
193 
206 
228 
240 
343 
336 
256 
263 

1  904  

123  183 

190-5 

127  572 

1906  .. 

135  674 

19Q7  

146,135 

1908 

150  977 

1909  .  . 

156  814 

1910  

166  005 

1911 

182  '952 

1913 

182  508 

1913  

280  662 

1914 

228  221 

The  notable  increase  of  real  estate  taxes  since  1900 7  has 
been  paralleled  by  a  similar  growth  in  the  personal  property 
levy.  Between  1903  and  1914,  it  will  be  seen  that  for  both 
races  county  personal  property  taxes  virtually  doubled  and 
city  taxes  more  than  doubled.  This  increase  took  place  de 
spite  the  fact  that  in  1903  the  rate  was  reduced  from  $.40  to 
$.35. 

A  comparison  of  Tables  XXIX  and  XXX  shows  that  there 
was  a  fairly  even  increase  on  tangible  and  intangible  property. 
Another  significant  fact  is  the  importance  which  taxes  on  in 
tangible  property  had  assumed  in  1903,  especially  in  cities.  Evi 
dently,  however,  very  little  intangible  property  was  of  negro 
ownership.  Thus  we  may  account  for  the  preponderance  of 
negro  taxes  paid  by  counties.  Although  negro  real  estate  taxes 
levied  in  cities  formed  approximately  two-fifths  8  of  the  county 
real  estate  taxes,  the  proportion  of  all  personal  property  taxes 
was  but  one-fifth  of  the  county  levy.  By  far  the  greater  por 
tion  of  tangible  personal  property  both  for  whites  and  negroes 
is  in  counties.  While  tangible  property  constitutes  almost  all 
personalty  of  negro  ownership  in  cities,  it  represents  for  whites 


T  See  Tables  XX  and  XXI. 
8  See  Table  XXII. 


84  PHEXPS-STOKES    FELLOWSHIP    PAPERS 

a  much  smaller  part  than  intangible  property.  Since  1903  in 
tangible  personal  property  taxes  for  whites  have  increased 
about  as  rapidly  in  counties  as  in  cities.  During  the  same  pe 
riod  counties  also  contributed  much  the  greater  part  of  the  taxes 
from  this  classification  paid  by  negroes. 

TABLE  XXXI:  PERCENTAGES  OF  PERSONAL  PROPERTY 
TAXES  RETURNED  DELINQUENT. 

Counties  Cities 

Year  Whites         Negroes         Whites         Negroes 


1893  

2.3 

14.7 

7.5 

63.7 

1895  

3.0 

20.5 

7.8 

66.0 

1900  

4.3 

14.3 

9.8 

€4.5 

1905  

5.6 

17.0 

6.0 

54.3 

1908  

6.1 

16.3 

7.5 

62.0 

1909  

5.7 

17.8 

8.1 

54.0 

1910  

5.3 

17.3 

9.6 

59.0 

1911  

5.8 

17.8 

7.3 

54.0 

1912  

5.4 

15.6 

8.2 

62.0 

1913  

4.1 

14.0 

6.7 

60.1 

1914  

4.6 

12.2 

5.7 

58.4 

The  delinquency  shown  in  Table  XXXI  includes  both  tan 
gible  and  intangible  property.  As  in  the  case  of  real  estate,  the 
amount  returned  delinquent  of  property  owned  by  whites  in 
counties  is  relatively  less  than  that  for  whites  in  cities  and  that 
for  negroes  in  both  counties  and  cities.9  Delinquency  in  per 
sonalty  taxes,  however,  is  somewhat  higher  than  in  those  on 


8  "Tangible  personal  property,  under  the  laws  of  this  State,  for 
the  purposes  of  taxation,  embraces  live  stock,  vehicles,  automobiles, 
bicycles,  books,  pictures,  tools  of  mechanics,  farming  implements, 
felled  timber,  cord  wood,  watches,  clocks,  musical  instruments,  house 
hold  furniture,  gold  and  silver  plate,  diamonds,  other  precious  stones 
and  precious  metals,  jewelry,  boats  and  other  water  craft,  firearms, 
seines,  pound  nets,  toll  bridges,  turnpikes,  ferries,  telephone  and  tel 
egraph  poles,  wires,  switchboards,  etc.,  owned  by  persons,  firms  and 
associations  (not  corporations);  sewing  machines,  etc.,  and  grain, 
tobacco  and  other  agricultural  productions  (not  the  property  of  the 
producers)  not  used  as  capital  in  business."  Auditor's  Report, 
1916,  XI. 


TAXATION    OF    NEGROES    IN    VIRGINIA  85 

real  estate  and  this  is  true  for  both  races.  For  whites  in  cities 
the  personal  property  tax  delinquency  is  more  than  twice  as 
great  as  the  real  estate  tax  delinquency,  and  for  negroes  in 
cities  it  is  greater  by  more  than  four  times.  If  we  compare 
counties  with  cities  in  Table  XXXI  we  find  the  percentages  of 
delinquency  for  whites  nearly  twice  as  great  in  cities  as  in 
counties  and  for  negroes  more  than  three  times  as  great. 

Again,  however,  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  percentages 
are  apt  to  be  misleading,  and  in  Table  XXXI  the  exceptionally 
large  percentages  of  delinquency  for  negroes  particularly  in 
cities  may  cause  an  erroneous  impression.  For  all  of  the  state's 
cities  the  amount  of  taxes  on  negro  personal  property  for 
1914  was  but  $5,312.  About  $3,100,  or  58.4  per  cent  of  this 
was  delinquent.  Thus  the  actual  delinquency  is  of  less  impor 
tance  than  one  might  infer  from  the  percentage  calculations. 

The  fact  that  delinquency  is  greater  for  personal  property 
taxes  than  for  real  estate  is  in  part  due  to  the  difference  in 
character  of  the  two  classes  of  property.  Real  estate  is  fixed 
in  situs  and  amount,  whereas  the  quantity  of  personal  property 
is  continually  changing;  and  hence  there  is  an  added  difficulty 
in  making  collections.  The  nature  of  the  property  itself  and 
the  resulting  difficulty  in  making  collections  seem  to  be  the  real 
reasons  for  the  larger  percentages  of  delinquency  in  personal 
property  taxes.  It  is  on  the  same  grounds  that  we  may  account 
for  the  high  per  cent  of  delinquency  on  city  property  of  negroes. 

Taxes  on  intangible  property,  of  course,  once  it  is  declared, 
are  practically  sure  of  collection,  but  we  have  already  seen  that 
negroes  own  little  property  of  this  class.  Their  personalty 
falls  mostly  under  the  head  of  tangible  property.10  It  consists 
among  the  most  prosperous  negro  farmers  of  live  stock,  some 
household  furniture,  and  vehicles  and  agricultural  implements. 
Among  the  poorer  tenants  and  day  laborers  it  is  confined  usu 
ally  to  a  scant  amount  of  household  goods.  In  cities  the  av 
erage  negro,  as  was  seen  in  Tables  XXIX  and  XXX,  owns  little 
personal  property  of  any  sort.  Most  of  it  consists  of  a  watch 
or  clock  perhaps,  furniture,  and  similar  household  goods. 

10  Pollard  Code  1904,  Sec.  603. 


86  PHEXPS-STOKES    FELLOWSHIP    PAPERS 

The  laws  governing  the  collection  of  delinquent  taxes  on 
personal  property  are  sufficiently  stringent.  It  is  the  duty  of 
the  treasurer  to  call  for  payment  from  all  persons  within  his 
jurisdiction  who,  by  the  first  day  of  December  each  year,  have 
not  paid  their  taxes.  "Upon  failure  or  refusal  of  such  person 
or  agent  to  pay  the  same  he  shall  proceed  to  collect  them  by 
distress  or  otherwise."  ia  After  the  first  day  of  July  he  is  re 
quired  to  make  out  a  list  of  all  property  for  which  taxes  can 
not  be  collected.12  The  correctness  of  the  list  must  be  certified 
to  by  the  court,  the  commissioners  of  the  revenue,  and,  in  coun 
ties,  by  the  board  of  supervisors.  It  is  then  forwarded  to  the 
state  auditor.  The  county  or  city  treasurer  may  not  receive  the 
taxes  afterwards,  but  they  may  be  paid  to  the  "public  treasury" 
or  to  the  "clerk  of  the  circuit  or  corporation  or  hustings 
court."  The  auditor,  within  sixty  days  after  receiving  the 
list,  must  place  it  in  the  hands  of  any  "sheriff,  sergeant,  con 
stable,  or  collector,"  who  must  endeavor  to  collect  the  taxes 
by  levy,  distress,  etc.13 

Thus  it  would  seem  that  the  laws  take  due  precaution  to  al 
low  no  taxes  possible  of  collection  to  go  unpaid.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  personal  property  owned  by  a  large  number  of  ne 
groes  is  limited  to  a  few  articles  of  very  little  value.  In  cities 
as  well  as  in  counties  there  are  many  negroes  whose  personalty 
is  valued  at  less  than  $25.  At  the  rate  of  35  cents  on  the  hun 
dred  dollars  the  tax  on  such  property  is  less  than  10  cents.  But 
even  when  the  property  is  of  two,  three,  or  four  times  the 
above  value  the  tax  ticket  is  an  extremely  small  item.  When 
the  treasurer  attempts  to  enforce  collection  of  such  amounts, 
he  is  at  once  confronted  with  many  difficulties.  One  is  the 
migratory  character  of  the  negro  population,  a  condition  which 
becomes  intensified  among  the  negroes  of  least  wealth.  This 
floating  element  is  employed  only  in  occupations  of  temporary 
importance.  In  the  negro  resident  sections  there  is  an  incessant 
moving  in  and  out,  so  that  between  the  date  of  assessment  and 

11  Ibid.,  Sec.  605. 

12  Pollard   Code   1904,  Sec.   608. 

13  Ibid.,   Sec.   612. 


THE    TAXATION    OF    NEGROES    IN    VIRGINIA  87 

the  expiration  of  the  time  allowed  for  payment  there  is  much 
shifting  in  the  population.  As  was  said  in  the  discussion  of 
real  estate,  there  are  many  absentee  heads  of  families  who  are 
working  temporarily  away  from  home. 

In  the  case  of  a  great  many  negroes,  therefore,  the  officer 
who  has  the  duty  of  enforcing  collection  finds  his  task  an  im 
possible  one.  His  only  recourse  is  to  sell  such  property  as  he 
may  be  able  to  find  in  possession  of  the  debtor.  But  the  diffi 
culty  of  selling  separate  peices  of  property,  the  value  of  which 
is  practically  negligible  to  anyone  except  the  possessor,  is  ap 
parent.  In  many  cases  the  real  owner  of  the  property  is  a 
matter  of  question.  Furthermore  the  costs  attached  to  such 
a  procedure  are  much  in  excess  of  the  tax  itself.  The  result  is 
that  in  cities  more  than  half  of  the  personal  property  levy  on 
negroes  cannot  be  collected  and  is  reported  delinquent  in  June. 
Study  of  the  auditor's  reports  shows  also  that  a  very  small  per 
cent  of  the  amount  returned  delinquent  is  collected  afterwards. 
All  delinquent  personal  property  taxes  collected  in  1914  for  all 
previous  years  were  but  4  per  cent  of  the  taxes  reported  delin 
quent;  the  amount  collected  in  1915  was  5  per  cent. 

There  remains  to  be  considered  but  one  other  important 
phase  of  personal  property  taxation,  viz.,  the  problem  of  un 
derassessment.  Intangible  property  has  been  the  source  of 
much  concern  to  the  state  within  recent  years,  due  to  the  fact 
that  the  larger  part  of  this  class  has  not  been  listed  for  taxation 
at  all.14  When  it  is  assessed,  taxes  are  paid  on  the  true  value 
of  the  property,  and  so  long  as  the  rate  on  real  estate  and  both 
classes  of  personal  property  remained  the  same,  intangible 
property  was  obviously  taxed  at  a  much  higher  rate  than  tan 
gible  personalty  or  real  estate.  Thus  the  real  difficulty  has  not 
been  underassessment  but  lack  of  assessment.  The  difficulty 
arises  from  the  very  nature  of  intangible  property  which  may 
easily  be  concealed  or  transferred  from  one  place  to  another. 
As  negroes  possess  little  of  this  class  of  property  we  are  more 
concerned  with  Schedule  B. 

In  regard  to  the  assessment  of  tangible  property  the  Joint 

"  Report  of  the  Joint  Committee  on  Tax  Revision  in  1914,  53. 


88  PHEXPS-STOKES    FELLOWSHIP    PAPERS 

Committee  on  Tax  Revision  spoke  as  follows :  "With  the 
proper  change  of  terms,  nearly  all  that  we  have  said  with  re 
gard  to  the  defects  in  our  methods  of  taxing  real  estate  may 
be  applied  to  the  taxing  of  tangible  property.  Excessive  in 
equalities  abound,  both  among  the  localities  and  among  indi 
viduals  within  the  same  locality.  There  is  also  a  marked  under 
valuation  everywhere,  though  it  is  slightly  less  than  in  the  case 
of  real  estate. 

In  practical  operation,  the  administration  of  the  tax  on  per 
sonal  property  is  in  the  hands  of  the  commissioner  of  the  rev 
enue.  He  sends  out  the  interrogatories,  he  examines  the  re 
turns  made  by  taxpayers,  he  assesses  those  who  make  no  re 
turns,  he  certifies  the  books  to  the  auditor  of  public  accounts, 
and  to  the  local  treasurer.  The  difficulties  that  confront  him 
are  very  similar  to  those  of  the  land  assessor  and  cause  a  sim 
ilar  undervaluation,  though  the  degree  of  undervaluation  ap 
pears  to  be  somewhat  less  than  for  real  estate."  15 

It  was  impossible,  however,  for  the  Committee  to  obtain  as 
accurately  as  for  real  estate  the  actual  degree  of  undervalua 
tion.  As  the  best  available  measure  of  undervaluation,  a  compari 
son  was  made  between  certain  classes  of  property  enumerated 
in  the  United  States  census  of  1910,  and  the  same  classes  in  the 
property  books  of  1913.  The  census  report  was  three  years  old 
in  the  latter  year  and  to  this  extent  the  comparison  is  defective. 
The  production  of  such  classes  of  farm  animals  as  sheep  and 
hogs,  and  even  of  horses  and  cattle,  may  be  diminished  or  in 
creased  from  year  to  year  to  meet  the  market  conditions.  "The 
comparison  can  be  taken,  therefore,  to  show  only  the  approxi 
mate  degree  of  undervaluation."  16  It  was  not  possible  to 
make  a  comparison  for  all  classes  of  tangible  property  except 
indirectly.  The  direct  comparisons  possible  included  $45,000,000 
of  the  amount  assessed,  leaving  approximately  $59,000,000  for 
which  a  direct  comparison  could  not  be  made.  Referring  to  the 
value  of  the  results  the  Committee  said:  "We  feel  justified  in 
assuming,  however,  that  the  ratio  of  the  assessed  value  to  the 


15  Report  of  the  Joint  Committee  on  Tax  Revision  in  1914,  46. 
18  Report  of  the  Joint  Committee  on  Tax  Revision  in  1914,  47. 


THE    TAXATION    OF    NEGROES    IN    VIRGINIA  89 

census  value  of  this  latter  class  is  the  same  as  the  ratio  of  as 
sessed  to  census  value  of  the  classes  that  can  be  directly  com 
pared.  If  this  assumption  be  granted,  then  the  true  value 
of  all  tangible  property  in  the  Commonwealth  in  1910  was 
$220,000,000.  In  other  words,  property  of  this  class  in  1913 
was  assessed  for  taxation  at  46.8  per  cent  of  its  true  value. 
We  believe  that  this  ratio  is  substantially  correct."  The  re 
sult  of  the  comparison  may  be  found  in  Table  XXXII. 

TABLE  XXXII:  VALUES  OF  TANGIBLE  PERSONAL  PROP- 

ERTY.17 

Assessment         Census       Ratio  of  As- 

1913  1910         sessment  to 

Census  Value 


all   classes        .                              i 

J5102  798  104 

$220  300  380 

46.80 

Values    of    tangible    property, 
classes  not  reported  by  census 
Values    of    tangible    property, 
classes  reported  by  census.. 
Horses     mules    etc  

( 

58,595,348 

44,382,755 
26,784,959 

^estimated) 
124,156,200 

96,144,180 
48,0*83,529 

47.20 

46.20 
55.80 

Cattle                              ' 

12  070  666 

22  202  253 

54.30 

Sheep   and   goats     

1  Oil  858 

3,340,087 

33.30 

Hogs      

1,584,2:27 

4,042,428 

36.00 

Values  of  farm  machinery.... 

2,931,036 

18,115,883 

16.19 

From  the  above  table  the  conclusion  can  be  drawn  that  per 
sonal  property  is  somewhat  better  assessed  than  is  real  estate. 
The  ratio  of  assessment  to  census  value  for  all  classes  of  tangible 
personal  property  was  46.8  per  cent.  This  may  be  compared 
with  the  ratio  of  assessed  to  selling  value  of  real  estate,  which 
was  33.5  in  counties  and  53.1  in  cities.  The  reason  for  this 
fact  is  apparent,  for  property  of  this  class  which  is  listed  may 
be  seen  by  the  assessor  and  is  easily  appraised.  "It  is  avail 
able  for  appraisal,"  said  the  Committee,  "in  quantities  whose 
values  are  fairly  well  known  to  the  average  man.  The  oppor 
tunities  for  underassessment  are  rather  less  than  those  for  the 

11  Ibid.,  48. 


90  PHEXPS-STOKES    FELLOWSHIP    PAPERS 

undervaluation  of  realty.  The  main  defect  of  the  assessment 
of  tangible  property  arises  rather  from  the  failure  to  list  the 
property  at  all  than  from  the  failure  to  list  it  at  a  reasonable 
value."  18 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  the  comparisons  in  Table  XXXII 
could  not  be  made  for  whites  and  negroes  separately.  Any 
statement,  therefore,  relative  to  the  assessment  of  negro  per 
sonal  property,  as  compared  with  that  of  whites,  must  stand  the 
risk  of  a  certain  amount  of  inaccuracy.  Careful  observation, 
however,  would  perhaps  show  that  on  the  whole  the  personal 
property  of  negroes  is  assessed  at  a  lower  per  cent  of  its  real 
value  than  is  that  of  whites.  This  of  course  is  exactly  the  re 
verse  of  the  facts  brought  out  in  the  analysis  of  real  estate 
values.  But  it  must  be  kept  in  mind  that  a  large  number  of 
negroes  possess  but  a  small  amount  of  personal  property,  which 
commissioners  of  the  revenue  are  quite  likely  to  appraise  at  a 
very  low  per  cent  of  its  value. 

Personal  property  owned  by  the  poorest  citizens  of  both  races 
consists  of  little  beyond  what  is  necessary  for  the  immediate 
needs  of  the  household.  Table  XXXII  would  indicate  that  the 
ratio  of  assessment  to  census  value  is  greater  for  all  classes  of 
live  stock  than  for  farm  machinery,  and  greatest  for  that  class 
of  live  stock  which,  per  unit,  is  of  the  highest  value.  If  a  com 
parison  could  be  made,  the  ratio  of  assessment  to  census  value 
for  household  goods  would  doubtless  not  be  more  than  that  for 
farm  machinery,  and  probably  less.  The  smallest  ratios  would 
be  found  to  be  those  for  household  goods  of  least  value,  and  a 
large  portion  of  negro  personal  property  would  be  included  in 
household  goods  of  this  class. 

The  constitution  of  1867-8  made  the  matter  of  levying  a  tax 
on  incomes  provisional  with  the  legislature,  placing  the  mini 
mum  exemption  if  such  a  tax  should  be  levied  at  six  hundred 
dollars.19  The  legislature  in  1869-70  fixed  the  exemption  at 
one  thousand  dollars,  allowing  only  one  exemption  for  each 


18  Report  of  the  Joint  Committee  on  Tax  Revision,  49. 

19  Constitution  of  1867-8,  Art.   10,   Sec.  4. 


THE;  TAXATION  OF  NEGROES  IN  VIRGINIA  91 

family.20  The  rate  was  one  per  cent.21  At  its  regular  session 
of  1883-4  the  legislature  reduced  the  exemption  to  six  hundred 
dollars  but  left  the  rate  unaltered.22  The  income  tax  provision 
written  in  the  constitution  of  1867-8  was  incorporated  in  the 
new  constitution  of  1901-2  without  change.23  In  1908  the  ex 
emption  was  raised  to  one  thousand  dollars,  and  to  two  thou 
sand  in  1912. 24  This  clause  remained  in  force  until  1915, 
when  the  exemption  on  individual  incomes  was  fixed  at  twelve 
hundred  dollars,  that  of  husband  and  wife  at  eighteen  hundred, 
and  an  exemption  of  two  hundred  was  allowed  for  each  un 
married  natural  or  legally  adopted  child  under  twenty-one  years 
of  age.  The  rate  was  left  unchanged.25 

Table  XXXIII  shows  that  at  no  time  has  the  number  of  ne 
groes  whose  incomes  exceeded  the  exemption  been  large,  but 
a  few  negroes  have  paid  an  income  tax  for  more  than  three 
decades.  Because  of  the  frequent  increase  and  decrease  of  the 
exemption  during  this  period  it  is  difficult  to  ascertain  whether 
the  incomes  of  negroes  have  increased  since  1890.  The  in 
creased  exemptions  of  1908  and  1912  obviously  eliminated 
practically  all  negroes  who  were  paying  taxes  on  incomes  in 
counties  and  reduced  very  greatly  the  number  in  cities.  Since 
1890,  both  in  counties  and  cities,  the  income  taxes  paid  by 
whites  have  increased  considerably.  The  increase  did  not  oc 
cur  during  the  decade  from  1890  to  1900.  After  1900  there  is 
an  irregular  but  real  increase,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  the 
exemption  was  raised  to  one  thousand  dollars  in  1908  and  to 
two  thousand  in  1912.  If  a  comparison  of  the  years  1908  and 
1915  be  made,  it  will  be  seen  that  income  taxes  paid  by  whites 
in  the  latter  year  had  doubled. 


20  Virginia  Code  1873,  306. 

21  Ibid.,  349. 

22  Acts  1883-4,  565;   Pollard  Code   1914,   II,  2195. 

23  Constitution  of  1901-2,  Sec.  170. 

24  Acts  1908,  20;  1912,  573. 

25  Acts   1915,    113. 


92  PHEXPS-STOKES    FELLOWSHIP    PAPERS 

TABLE  XXXIII:    INCOME  TAXES  LEVIED  SINCE  1890.26 


Counties 

Cities 

Year 

Whites 

Negroes 

Whites 

Negroes 

1891  

$13,105 

$13 

$49,046 

$44 

1892  

12,262 

57 

41,819 

17 

1893  

14,973 

50 

36,65,5 

22 

1894  

11,539 

14 

29,372 

18 

1895  

9,193 

6 

31,817 

10 

1896  

10,925 

19 

31,407 

27 

1897  

,  8,773 

6 

28,705 

18 

1898  

,  9  >683 

6 

33,498 

18 

1899  

17,582 

8 

36,552 

6 

1900  

13,574 

6 

40,979 

6 

1901  

18,356 

6 

45,220 

22 

1902  

,  15,916 

22 

48,274 

11 

1903  

19,622 

9 

51,040 

30 

1904  

21,727 

7 

48,324 

47 

1905  

25,541 

14 

59,227 

70 

1906  

27,934 

6 

75,768 

64 

1907  

38,859 

30 

98,132 

212 

1908  

30,792 

20 

78,616 

125 

1909  

30<,745 

27 

82,362 

112 

1910  

35,727 

3 

102,527 

139 

1911  ,  

37,576 

7 

107,775 

134 

1912  

28,801 

5 

73,867 

5 

1913  

53,807 

8 

110,277 

45 

1914  

65,274 

0 

128,180 

11 

1915  i  

68,436 

7 

144,881 

33 

Compiled  from  the  State  Auditor's   Reports. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

CONCLUSIONS. 

Negroes  paid  a  capitation  tax  during  most  of  the  colonial 
period,  and  during  part  of  the  period  between  1775-1860.  Prior 
to  1860  they  were  frequently  assessed  with  a  discriminatory 
capitation  tax,  but  since  this  date  the  rate  has  been  uniform  for 
all  races.  In  1814  the  state  collected  $8,322  from  5,547  free 
negroes  within  the  taxable  age.  The  rate  in  1863  was  $2,  and 
the  total  assessment  on  free  negroes  for  this  year  was  $11,554. 
By  the  constitution  of  1867-8  the  legislature  was  given  the 
power  of  levying  a  capitation  tax,  the  maximum  rate  of  which 
for  state  purposes  was  one  dollar.  The  amount  assessed  on 
negro  males  at  this  rate  in  1870  was  $90,183.  The  need  for 
revenue  was  so  pressing  in  1876  that  prepayment  of  the  poll- 
tax  was  made  a  requirement  for  voting.  It  was  hoped  that 
this  amendment  would  reduce  the  amount  of  capitation  taxes 
annually  returned  delinquent,  but  it  proved  such  an  easy  device 
for  ballot  box  corruption  that  it  was  repealed.  A  tendency 
which  in  the  administration  of  the  tax  became  accentuated 
throughout  the  period  from  1866  to  1900  was  a  steady  growth 
in  delinquency.  Forty-seven  per  cent  of  the  assessment  for 
negroes  in  1895  was  returned  delinquent.  In  18%  the  legisla 
ture  endeavored  to  counteract  such  an  objectionable  tendency 
of  the  tax  by  making  it  a  lien  on  real  estate,  but  the  purpose  of 
the  law  was  never  realized. 

With  the  adoption  of  the  new  constitution  in  1901-2  a  radi 
cal  change  of  policy  took  place  in  the  administration  of  the 
tax.  What  had  previously  been  wholly  a  fiscal  tax  now  became 
mainly  a  political  measure.  Payment  of  the  poll-tax  assess 
ment  six  months  in  advance  of  election  day  was  made  a  prereq 
uisite  for  voting  and  a  registration  clause  was  enacted  so  that 
payment  of  the  tax  was  not  the  sole  requirement  for  suffrage. 
As  there  has  been  no  effective  mode  of  enforcing  collection  of 
capitation  taxes  the  amount  annually  returned  delinquent  has 

93 


94  PHEXPS-STOKES    FELLOWSHIP    PAPERS 

always  been  very  large,  and  has  increased  at  a  great  rate  since 
1902,  especially  for  negroes.  The  growth  in  delinquency  is 
illustrated  by  the  graph  lines  on  page  39.  In  1914  more  than 
thirty  per  cent  of  the  capitation  tax  for  whites  and  above  sixty 
per  cent  of  it  for  negroes  was  returned  delinquent.  At  its 
biennial  session  in  1916  the  legislature  revised  the  laws  for 
enforcing  collection  of  delinquent  capitations,  which  may  re 
sult  in  a  reduction  of  the  large  annual  delinquency. 

Real  estate  is  the  principal  source  of  all  taxes  paid  by  ne 
groes,  and  hence  the  taxation  of  negro  real  estate  is  of  chief 
importance  to  the  present  study.  In  1900  the  total  amount  of 
negro  real  property  as  valued  by  the  state  for  purposes  of  tax 
ation  was  $12,464,377;  in  1914  it  had  more  than  doubled  and 
amounted  to  $28,775,199.  The  total  state  tax  levy  on  negro 
real  estate  was  $48,173  in  1900  and  $93,245  in  1914.  Thus  of 
the  total  amount  of  real  estate  taxes  levied  in  the  latter  year  ap 
proximately  five  per  cent  was  paid  by  negroes. 

The  per  cent  of  real  estate  taxes  annually  returned  delin 
quent  is  much  smaller  for  both  races  than  it  is  in  the  case  of 
capitation  taxes.  Less  than  five  per  cent  of  the  assessment  for 
whites  was  returned  delinquent  in  1900,  while  for  negroes  the 
delinquency  was  11.4  per  cent  in  counties  and  18.7  per  cent  in 
cities.  In  1914  the  amount  of  delinquency  for  whites  had  de 
creased  to  three  per  cent;  for  negroes  also  the  amount  had  de 
creased  to  9.5  per  cent  in  counties  and  13.3  in  cities.  A  con 
siderable  part  of  the  delinquent  real  estate  taxes  is  ultimately 
collected,  but  there  is  no  way  of  ascertaining  how  much  of  this 
is  from  either  race.  From  the  figures  just  quoted  it  is  seen 
that  delinquency  is  much  greater  for  negroes  than  for  whites 
in  both  counties  and  cities.  There  are  two  reasons  for  the 
higher  delinquency  for  negroes  in  counties.  The  first  is  the 
very  small  value  of  many  negro  holdings,  the  low  assessments, 
and  the  consequent  carelessness  in  collection.  In  proportion  to 
the  total  number  for  each  race,  there  are  more  holdings  of 
very  small  value  belonging  to  negroes  than  to  whites.  On  many 
of  these  the  taxes  assessed  are  minute,  frequently  amounting  to 
less  than  $1  and  sometimes  to  as  little  as  $0.15.  A  second  rea 
son  is  the  difficulty  of  collecting  a  tax  of  such  small  amount. 


THE)    TAXATION    OF    NEGROES    IN    VIRGINIA  95 

It  is  obvious  that  the  cost  of  collection  exceeds  the  value  of 
the  tax  itself.  From  year  to  year  taxes  on  numerous  holdings 
of  this  sort  are  returned  delinquent.  In  cities  the  percentage 
of  delinquent  taxes  on  real  estate  averages  about  one  and  three- 
fourths  times  as  much  as  in  counties.  The  reasons  for  this  ex 
cessive  delinquency  in  cities,  however,  are  very  different  from 
those  explanatory  of  conditions  in  counties.  One  must  here 
take  into  consideration  the  negro's  general  improvidence.  The 
country  condones  shiftlessness  and  ignorance  in  the  negro  to 
a  greater  extent  than  does  the  city.  Transactions  in  the  city 
are  more  business  like  and  methodical,  .and  the  negro  has  not 
yet  adjusted  himself  to  the  conditions  of  city  life. 

Are  negroes  in  Virginia  sharing  the  state's  burden  of  taxa 
tion  in  proportion  to  their  ability?  To  answer  this  question  it 
is  necessary  to  know  the  ratio  of  assessment  to  true  property 
value  for  negroes  as  compared  with  a  like  ratio  for  whites. 
Real  estate  has  been  greatly  underassessed,  the  amount  of  un- 
derassment  varying  widely  in  different  localities  and  among 
various  classes  of  taxpayers.  The  latitude  for  inequalities  is 
thus  apparent.  It  was  found  by  the  Joint  Committee  on  Tax 
Revision  in  1914  that  underassessment  is  greatest  on  large  real  es 
tate  holdings,  and  decreases  as  the  value  of  the  property  decreases. 
The  negro  is  thus  at  a  disadvantage  as  compared  with  the  white 
taxpayer  because  he  is  usually  the  owner  of  a  small  holding. 
Again,  the  negro  real  estate  taxpayer  is  at  a  disadvantage  be 
cause  of  sectional  divergencies  of  assessment ;  for  the  sections 
of  the  state  in  which  assessments  are  highest  are  just  those  in 
which  the  negro  population  is  densest.  A  third  inequality  by 
reason  of  which  negroes  are  at  a  disadvantage  is  that  which  is 
found  in  the  unequal  assessment  of  white  and  negro  holdings. 
Real  estate  holdings  which  under  the  ownership  of  whites  bear 
the  same  market  value  as  under  the  ownership  of  negroes  have 
a  higher  assessment  for  negroes  than  for  whites.  Whereas  the 
ratio  of  assessment  to  selling  price  of  real  estate  in  counties  was 
found  in  1914  to  be  33.1  for  whites,  it  was  45.3  for  negroes; 
and  in  cities  52.9  for  whites  and  58.7  for  negroes.  This  in 
equality,  however,  is  one  in  appearance  rather  than  in  economic 
fact.  For  if  the  income-bringing  possibilities  and  productive 


96  PHEXPS-STOKES    FELLOWSHIP    PAPERS 

capacity  of  the  holdings  are  taken  into  consideration  rather  than 
the  selling  price  the  discrepancy  is  not  so  apparent. 

Most  of  the  personal  property  owned  by  negroes  is  of  the 
tangible  class.  In  1903  negroes  were  assessed  with  8.8  per  cent 
of  all  the  state's  tangible  personal  property  taxes  and  in  1914 
with  8.1  per  cent.  Delinquency  in  personal  property  taxes  for 
negroes  is  relatively  greater  than  in  the  taxes  on  real  estate. 
This  is  especially  true  in  cities  but  the  total  amount  of  person 
alty  owned  by  negroes  in  cities  has  always  been  very  small. 
For  instance,  in  1914  it  amounted  to  but  $5,312.  That  delin 
quency  is  greater  for  personal  property  taxes  than  for  real  es 
tate  is  in  part  due  to  the  difference  in  character  of  the  two 
classes  of  property.  Unlike  real  estate  the  former  is  not  fixed 
in  situs  and  amount,  but  the  quantity  is  continually  changing. 
The  difficulty  of  making  collections  is  greater  for  it  therefore 
than  for  real  estate. 

Taking  the  state  as  a  whole,  the  underassessment  of  tangi 
ble  personal  property  is  somewhat  less  than  that  of  real  estate, 
but  inequalities  abound  both  among  the  localities  and  among 
individuals  within  the  same  localities.  In  1914  the  ratio  of  as 
sessment  to  census  value  for  all  classes  of  tangible  personal 
property  was  46.8  per  cent.  Careful  observation  would  perhaps 
show  that  the  personal  property  of  negroes  is  assessed  at  a 
lower  per  cent  of  its  real  value  than  is  that  of  whites.  Of  all 
the  classes  of  personalty  for  which  a  direct  comparison  between 
the  state  assessment  and  census  value  could  be  made,  farm 
machinery  has  the  lowest  ratio  of  assessment.  The  personal 
property  of  a  large  number  of  negroes  consists  altogether  of 
household  goods  and  the  ratio  of  assessment  to  census  value 
for  this  class  of  property  doubtless  does  not  exceed  that  for 
farm  machinery.  A  few  negroes  for  the  past  several  decades 
have  paid  a  small  income  tax,  but  the  amount  paid  by  them 
from  this  source  is  as  yet  of  little  significance. 

In  1910  negroes  composed  32.6  per  cent  of  the  state's  popu 
lation.  The  total  amount  of  revenue  paid  into  the  state  treas 
ury  in  1914  was  $7,797,532.  The  real  estate,  capitation,  per 
sonal  property  and  income  taxes  assessed  against  negroes  in 
this  year  amounted  to  $318,381,  or  they  were  assessed  with  5 


THE;  TAXATION  OF  NEGROES  IN  VIRGINIA  97 

per  cent  of  all  real  estate  taxes,  3.8  per  cent  of  all  personal 
property  taxes,  28.1  per  cent  of  all  capitation  taxes,  and  .00006 
per  cent  of  all  income  taxes.  From  these  sources,  therefore, 
they  paid  approximately  4.1  per  cent  of  the  state's  total  revenue. 
In  addition  to  this  amount  they  were  assessed  with  a  small 
amount  of  merchants'  license  and  other  license  taxes,  and  mis 
cellaneous  taxes,  which  are  not  ascertainable. 


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N9   784096 

E185.93 

Snavely,  T.R.  V8 

The  taxation  of        S6 
Negroes  in  Virginia. 


LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
DAVIS 


